By Davet Muzvidziwa

ALLEGIANCE refers to a devotion or loyalty of a person to a group especially your country. Many nations were built out of allegiance of its citizens to their countries.
A pledge of allegiance is a solemn oath both physically and emotionally that one will always be there for his or her country first. Because of allegiance many people have fought bitter wars in defence of the territorial integrity of their countries.
Today we see mainly sworn in leaders and members of the forces pledging their allegiance to their offices and country through various oaths they sign at swearing in ceremonies.
Especially the State President’s swearing in is much expected and a very important event. The question this article poses is whether every citizen must pledge allegiance to the country?
The United States of America, Germany and many other countries place uncompromised importance to the citizen pledge of loyalty.
To qualify this view we need to trace the pledge of allegiance in the United States. In 1892 Francis Bellamy a Baptist Church Minister noted a decline in patriotism and national feeling experienced during the Civil War.
Bellamy felt the time was ripe for reawakening of Americanism and that such reawakening was to start in schools.
One prominent American of the time James B Upham remarked to his wife, “Mary, if I can instil into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into the constitution, I shall not have lived in vain”.
Thus Bellamy crafted the first pledge of allegiance not for America but for all citizens of the world to pledge allegiance to their countries. The first pledge of allegiance read;
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.
In 1923, the United States realised how important the pledge of allegiance was to US and decided to specifically make it American by incorporating the words, “the Flag of the United States of America”. Thus it read;
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In 1954, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words “under God,” creating the 31-word pledge. Today it reads:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The Youth Companion of 1892 explains how schoolchildren were to take a pledge of allegiance described here.
At a signal from the principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the flag.
Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute — right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.”
At the words, “to my Flag,” the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture to the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.
In 2009 a bill was proposed in Congress that would forbid federal funds to any school that allows any student to say the Pledge of Allegiance in any language other than English. Because of the pledge of allegiance, United States continues to generate citizens that always put United States first.
The pledge of allegiance is very important that at some point in the history of the United States one would be punished for not taking a pledge of allegiance.
The Americans noted that the patriotism declined after the Civil War and required each citizen to pledge allegiance to their country once again for reawakening of Americanism. What lessons does Zimbabwe draw from the American experience? Zimbabweans’ patriotism is at a low ebb as seen through a number of indicators.
1.Most Zimbabweans seek refuge among the former colonisers from economic challenges.
2.Some Zimbabweans seek political advice from colonialists that exploited them for over a century
3.Some political parties seek financial handouts from former colonisers and countries that uphold current economic sanctions.
4.Some Zimbabweans are accused of stealing national intelligence information and selling it to the enemies of poor beloved country
5.Some legislators are accused of compromising their oath of loyalty by colluding with foreign intelligence agents.
6.Some Zimbabweans are relocating their firms to other countries running away from economic hardships.
7.Some companies are under-invoicing exports and overstating imports cheating their beloved country of the much needed taxes.
These observations are indicative of dwindling patriotism.
There is no other known remedy for the restoration of patriotism other than a pledge of allegiance starting from kindergarten. Catch them young, they say in the West.
But when you really try to catch them young, the West will cry foul just like they cried foul when Zimbabwe reclaimed her land. In dealing with the issue of dwindling patriotism among citizens, do not seek advice from the West.
They will advise wrongly because the last thing they will like you to possess as a nation is patriotism. In a country where patriotism is high, the notorious vices will not find space. Corruption, looting, nepotism, graft and other vices cannot be used by the enemies to bleed the country. One easy way to corrupt an economy and bleed it is by way of eradicating patriotism.
In dealing with issues around the education curriculum, one thing that must find its way into the curriculum is a Zimbabwean model of the pledge of allegiance.
This is not an option but a necessary reawakening of the Zimbabweanness which is desperately needed to eradicate the vices that is crippling our country and the political bankruptcy that makes the kith and kin go begging for ideas and solutions from our enemies. Our forefathers were forced to pledge the allegiance to the British Queen. Surely no vacuum should be created.
When Zimbabwe divorced the pledge of allegiance to the Queen, what did we replace that with. Civil servants, Ministers, Parliamentarians, captains of industry should be required to take a pledge of loyalty to Zimbabwe like Christians pledge allegiance to Jesus and Muslims pledge allegiance to Mohamed. Without a pledge of allegiance re-colonisation cannot be ruled out.