By Henry Kyambalesa
As we get closer to the general elections, one of the topical issues we ought to be pondering is our country’s current record on good governance. Zambians nationwide expect their national government to apply the elements of good governance in both word and deed, that is: transparency, accountability, rule of law, citizen participation in governmental decision making, and freedom of the press.
Let us briefly examine what each of these elements of good governance entails, as well as determine whether our country can be said to be fostering any of the elements of good governance.
Firstly, “transparency” requires members of the public to have access to information about the state, its decision-making mechanisms, and its current and planned projects and programs — except for state secrets. The procurement of hearses by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, which President Rupiah Banda has publicly sworn to have had no knowledge of when he has been both Vice President and President, provides a good example of the lack of transparency in government.
And in June 2011, Vice President George Kunda led MMD members of parliament in shooting down a private members’ motion that could have compelled the government to release consolidated annual statistics on employment levels in the country, arguing that it was meant to embarrass the government — a clear example of lack of transparency in the governance of our beloved country.
Secondly, “accountability” entails the availability of a mechanism for ensuring that civil servants and public officials are directly accountable and liable for the outcomes of their decisions and actions, and the appropriation of resources assigned to them. The re-appointment of Dora Siliya to a Cabinet post after she was alleged to have defrauded Petauke District Council of K12.5 million in fake refund claims, mishandled the appointment of RP Capital Partners in respect of its valuation and potential sale of Zamtel, and cancellation of a duly awarded contract for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of a Zambia Air Traffic Management Surveillance Radar System (ZATM-RADAR) at Lusaka and Livingstone international airports provides a good example of the lack of accountability in government.
Thirdly, “rule of law” requires the existence of non-discriminatory laws and law enforcement organs of the government that are efficient, impartial, independent, and legitimate — an element that is undermined by failure by the police to arrest MMD cadres like William Banda and Chris Chalwe who have continually harassed or threatened MMD leaders who have dissenting views, opposition political leaders, journalists, newspaper vendors, and other innocent citizens.
Also, dismissals of officials who have attempted to pursue corrupt politicians regarded as sacred cows by the Republican president, selective prosecution of suspected perpetrators of corruption, and appointment of individuals found to be wanting for flouting national laws and regulations to key government positions are rife in the country.
Fourthly, “citizen participation” refers to the availability of channels and mechanisms through which the citizenry and non-governmental institutions can have a direct or indirect influence on the actions of public officials, such as the procurement of mobile clinics, which President Banda made through single-source procurement in contravention of rules and regulations limiting such procurements to emergency situations, and without initial consultation with technocrats in government ministries, the Zambia Public Procurement Authority, or primary stakeholders — the rural dwellers.
And “freedom of the press” calls for the national government to foster the development of a free press to facilitate the exposure of unscrupulous activities in institutional settings, such as the K10 billion historic theft by a civil servant at the Ministry of Health.
The role of a free press in the creation of a system of governance in which accountability, transparency, rule of law, and public participation in governmental decision making cannot perhaps be overemphasized. We should not expect our multi-party democracy to function effectively without such a system of governance.
Moreover, the effective checks and balances we seek to introduce into our system of government are not possible in a political setting where the government is a prominent player in the fourth estate — that is, the news media. Besides, the fight against the scourge of corruption (which is believed by the President to be non-existent in Zambia) is seriously undermined by public news outlets which are muzzled by the MMD and its leaders.
So, the MMD administration can hardly be said to be fostering any of the foregoing elements of good governance. If this conspicuous failure to improve our beloved country’s record on good governance is not enough to deny Comrade Rupiah Banda and the MMD another term of office, what about the unprecedented levels of poverty which have continued to haunt over 68% of our fellow citizens?
Whither my beloved country?
Currently, our country is experiencing unprecedented socio-economic problems. The healthcare system, for example, cannot meet the basic needs of the majority of citizens; tens of thousands of Grade 7 and Grade 9 students have continued to be spilled onto the streets every year; so many Zambians have no access to clean water and electricity; and a critical shortage of decent public housing has compelled so many of our fellow citizens to live in shanty townships nationwide.
Moreover, public infrastructure and services are still deficient; civil servants are still not adequately compensated for their services; a lot of civil service retirees cannot get their hard-earned benefits; crime and unemployment are still widespread; taxes and interest rates are still very high; and, among many other socio-economic ills, the constitution-making process is still fraught with personal, partisan and short-term interests.
Therefore, the soundness of political players’ contemplated policies in addressing the problems we face as a nation must be the primary consideration when we go to polling stations to cast our votes on September 20, 2011.
Our people’s demands and expectations on the government have never been clearer and louder. Unfortunately, we have continued to have a backlog of unfulfilled promises from those who have assumed the reins of power. Currently, there is extreme inertia and resistance to change within the MMD administration. After governing for nearly 20 years, the MMD government has seemingly become lax, arrogant, stubborn, and complacent.
Giving such a government 5 more years is, therefore, a sheer waste of time and public resources, because there is nothing the MMD is likely to do in 5 years which they could not have done in nearly 20 years the party has been in power.
We, therefore, need to try the Patriotic Front (PF) this time around, hoping that it will make a serious effort to address the people’s needs and expectations.
What this lmbecile, kyambalesa ignores is the fact that PF was part of MMD for the first 10 years. So Why would they be an alternative to themselves? If they were complacent for 10 yeras, what has changed now?
Zambia has been offered an opportunity to amass wealth for the general citizenry,with all the fdi and revenue raised locally .Our concern should not be the mmd in first ten years,but the current mmd crop mismanging the economy.Look when levy come in has president of mmd and republican president,he put our house in order by promoting good governace in almost all institutions,but the incumbant repulican president rb,is pulling down all efforts and results achieved in the seven years of mwnanawasa is reign.if you think its right then give him your vote and allow the above observation to be debated with soberness.
Henry Kyambalesa,
Its now 11 years of you with your internet party but allergic to elections party or national. When are you floating yourself on the ballot so that you can draw mandate of your armchair critic skills?
Just keep your foolishness to yourself
You are actually a disgrace to the journalism fraternity. Wait until MMD leaves, you will regret your foolishness of choosing belly before personal and professional integrity.
#1 whatever your name, this is one of the best articles to be carried by Lusaka Times. You an imbecile and not the author of this article. The MMD government has betrayed the principles of democracy on which it was founded. Since Chiluba left office, the MMD has failed to fill the position of vice-president due to the lack of respect for democracy. How can such a party implement democracy in the nation? By the way, does this mean that Lusaka Times has finally seen the light?
Sometimes u wonder y educated zambians fail to give sober analyses. Every fool knows that there is difference between MMB & PF they are the baastrds and the PFthe main man is a semi-iliterate idioot with dagga stained teeth with no iota of systematic reasoning. This Kyambalesa now tells the world that he “dreams” Sata deserves to his leader….out of touch but in touch with his internet party….no wonder this foool was lowly regarded by his students at UNZANDO and later on CBU. shame fooool
Kyambalesa running into his 60s soon is Zambia’s olded internet Party president such that even South Africa based young corporate Icon Lucky Mulsa who just considered politics yesterday, has left Kyambalesa stuck into internet armchair role. Mulusa is now Solwezi Central constituency parliamentary candidate with all stars of him going to Manda Hill. Musala has done more for Solwezi while Kyambalesa has failed to even put up a 1 room toilet in NW for his family.
What iis #4 talking about? RB, bushe ulicipuba mwa? MMD has failed, period.
What a President the internet party has.
Ba professor sure ukulemba a meilelelel. even Siulapwa and that screwed up nyirenda from chilenje – president of common man party…fuuuck his name are miles ahead of you.
Henry, you have written a very good article but just like a biased researcher, you have come to a wrong conclusion from your data! The MMD has done better in the last 10 years with two newcomer Presidents, Levy and RB and a host of new faces in cabinet. The first 10 years were a disaster and all those who were responsible for that dismal performance constitute the PF! Trying PF now, is renaming the MMD of 1991-2001. It is retrogressive. Let us look at individuals and not at parties, because there is no single party in Zambia that is ideological except UNIP. That is why politicians change parties like socks!
# 2 and 5 Senior Citizen. Please learn to attack ideas and not the person. It just show how foolish and low you can sink when confronted with the truth. I am not interested in how many toilets you have built in your village and worse still how many toilets you will build in future. Tell me what is wrong with the analysis and not your personal issues with the author. Is it because he is much wiser and intelligent than you? Sorry sir/madam, you know better.
I had a lot of respect for Henry Kayambalesa until he endorsed Michael Satan. When he did that, Henry betrayed everything that he had once stood for and to me he became a Zero from there onwards. Sata was an informer for the colonial Masters. He sent a lot of Zambians to Jail and death during those pre-independence years. When independence came, Sata quickly read the temperature and joined UNIP. He still has a UNIP mindset up to today. Sata has lied about his education and given the people the impression that he has 2 degrees. Sata is a form V failure. He has no ability to comprehend the complex economic issues of the 21st century. He should be retired together with all the old madalas from yesteryear. These guys need to go. This year lets Vote for HH or RB to keep Zambia moving forward.
Shutup all of you………….. accept that change is change whether positive or negative…. please let others also come and rule the likes of SATA….. By the way when the president changes 3/4s of the GRZ will change ……………..Senior Citizen may also participate in the change…..PERIOD.
Henry, I think you’ve got it backwards. You are supposed to highlight attributes of PF which, if given a chance, will be a solution to the weaknesses you have mentioned and sell PF on that basis, rather than mentioning the weaknesses and then merely say ‘therefore, lets try PF’. For a start, PF is Sata and Sata is PF. Period. So how would you reconcile that with the elements of good governance you have raised? If this is the best you can do then you need help in this sort of writting, my friend, and fast.
just had a hard puff of malawai gold with chilufwa elo sata undressed and has wow! has a big pipe.looking for membe to fucck. mwalapena come sept you bembas will cry chilubi izland . bus yamisiya
#3,6. how does it feel to be a lone voice lmbecile. The ‘best’ article yet you can not justify the superlative…just do your insults like your other small mind ‘Sata followers’
Good governanance is hard to come by in a place where the candidates know for sure they’ll recieve votes not because of their good record but because they’ll be counting on their “homeboys”.RB will surely win eastern,Sata can count on Bemba votes,HH can count on votes from his region and any parliamentary candidate affiliated to these 3 major candidates can expect votes in line with a party’s support in a region regardless of their leadership inadequaces.The zambian electorate is as much to blame for fostering a culture of tribal block votes no matter how unpalatable the candidate is.
# 15, the majority can be wrong and in this case, you are extremely wrong. You are all attacking the author and not his analysis. Tell, were you disagree rather than attacking him. By the way, if you can be supported by the likes of Senior citizen, then you need your head examined!
Who let the dogs out?
You can sense all the strategies engineered by Fred False Prophet Mmembe at The Post in Bwinjifumu Road to help PF have collapsed like an Ice Lollipop or Con-Ice-Cream melting rapidly on a hot summer afternoon.
In the mean time, Amos Malupenga has carefully looked in the Crystal Ball and realised there is uncertainty at The Post moving forward as far as its operations is concerned.
The Post does not know what is going to hit them as far as Creditors are concerned. My intuition is that the Creditors will advance so heavily on their door steps. Mmembe’s sister who is the now Managing Director at the Post is yapping too much due to the pressure mounting on her brother.
Cont..
Consequently, Amos Malupenga has already started sending his (CV) resume’ and of recent made a number of applications. Nothing wrong with the Postmaster seeking green pastures. But the timing may have something more to this.
One of the things that foreign investors tend to look for when investing into a nation are the: Political Climate & Economical Climate.
We saw this when Hilary Clinton came to Zambia accompanied hundreds of potential investors from USA plus all those that come from within Africa.
Cont..
Our founding father KK preached peace from day one in 1964. So no short sighted individual like Mmembe should be allowed to indirectly manifest havoc in Zambia.
Of recent Sata has somehow become a proxy campaigner for RB, by admitting that the Opinion Polls are correct and that RB has managed to advance and finish some of the projects that Levy started.
Yes, its true. Governing is about – “Continuation”, “Course Of Action”, “Process and “Exercise”. RB was Levy’s vice president. I am sure they sat together and talked how to take the nation forward. Therefore, RB has DELIVERED and deserves another TERM in office. cont..
It baffles me that PF has been in operations for more that 10 years and have completely failed to draw a tangible Manifesto, Fiscal Economical Program. Instead went and retrieved a UNIP transcript by copying and pasting word to come up with their Master Piece. This is called Plagiarism, a bad word if associated with a writer.
Though Bob Sichinga has tried to preach Micro-Economics on behalf of PF having worked as a Chief Financial Controller to once the mighty and strong ZCCM, it still remains that they (PF) have not put anything on paper to demonstrate their vision. To put it simple, PF is a danger to Zambia’s economy.
# 10,
Say what you want to say in your frustration and limited knowledge but # 11 “The Bricklayer” has santimoniously responded to you on my behalf. Argue what he has said then come back to me with a debate on the threat. What personal issues can i have with Kyambalesa known for internet trolling in vanity?
#22 You definitely have unresolved issues with the author.In any case, your thinking boarders on untold insanity and I wonder how I can have a well placed argument with you. That said, attack the ideas and not the person.
Thanks for this important and crucial analysis. I find it hard that bloggers have missed the point: MMD had 20 years implement its policies but has failed terribly. Is it not telling that Banda is supported by bloggers in the diaspora? Only Bembaman is in Zambia, the rest are in the diaspora having run away from the dust and poverty of Zambia; What a shame.
Well written article, the author has just hammered the nail on the head. Issues raised in this article are the true reflection of MMD governance for the past 20 yesrs.
Number 1: PF has never been in power, and Sata has never been President of Zambia. He has always been a political appointee and served to further the interests of appointing authorities. So, what is wrong with trying them this time to see what they are really made of? If you really want to insult the author, you should have given your full name so that we know the kind of imbecile you are. Cool down my friend; trying Sata for the next 5 years will not be the end of our country. Let us find out what the so-called “Action Man” can or cannot do …
Good evening
Come on people, there’s no need to disrespect the author for this very good article. We need to constantly ask ourselves “whither do we go from here?” – this is the question that made European explorers to leave their cold climate to discover the wealth that was lying idle in distant places.
That time our forfathers were too complacent, too contented with the status quo to put up resistance against the imperialist invasion, and they ended up enslaved and colonised. Now 400 years later, we still have people who are are resisting change in a democracy and are comfortable to be ruled by one party for 20 years and more. Ask yourselves what is the essence of Democracy? Is it stagnation? or going backwards?
“Democracy is the theory that the people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” H.L. Mencken.
#26, Solwezi Boy, is that your full name? And therefore the ‘kind of lmbecile you are’?
Making experiments with your PF would require more justification than your dismal attempt.
The 10 years that the serpent was the right hand man to FTJ are known as the wasted decade for a reason. Since Mr Sata left MMD has done very well, especially under RB………in your face.
You cant criticise the MMD on good governance and then want somebody who supported the third-term bid with violence to be the president of Zambia especially when that person has been at the helm of a party that has been in existence for ten years but only held its first and only convention this year. Moreover, at the convention Sata was unopposed as all the people HE recommended for the various pf party positions. Why should I vote for a party that wants all civil servants to be party cadres in a pluralistic society? There is nothing wrong with being ruled by the same party for 20 years if that is what the people of the country want. We are always being told that Botswana is a great example of African development and stability and it has been ruled by the same party since independence.
What I like about MMD cadres and supporters as they would prefer to be called is that whenever someone writes anything about their party’s flaws, they pick up picks and shovels to bully and bury the writer. If you read all the postings from the MMD cadres on this topic, not even has contradicted the writer with any point. Not even one has even shown the readership where the writer went wrong or what is wrong with the article.
Henry,we are taught,the importance of philosophy and the power of ideologies…Parties that can move a country forward believe in ideologies or ideas. Notwithstanding the fact that Zambia is a democracy, our people deserve better and MUST only be guided into a successful future on ideology- Either one believes in money -capitalism, to drive the country forward or one believes in humanity-Socialist/communism or a mixture of capitalism&socialism/communism or better still a combination of ” Humanism, Socialism and communism”. So, utmost Zambia should only have 4 political parties with 4 different ideologies to compete for presidential elections and NOT the 17 we are witnessing in 2011…this will just spoil votes and later create APATHY in our people and a destruction of our democr
This is indeed an article that truely highlights what MMD stands for and its timing cannot be better, given that the elections are in a week’s time. No wonder a few sponsored bloggers like Senior Citizen are rattled. MMD’s time is up and for the sake of democracy let the people get what they want. Sata will rule for the next five years, with someone else taking over after that. This way, it can only get better. Retaining MMD is not an option
some people are stuck in their heads but i can not blame them,guys try to by all means to make your consciuos mind accept a new believe or present truth.the present truth is mmd has failed us ,LPM tried his best and RB has just benefited but to give RB another term i think it is not gud.
I think LT has done a Donchi Kubeba on MMD. All along, they have been publishing pro MMD articles; then they started being neutral for some time, and having sensed that its only 8 days to change of government; they feel they can redeam themselves.
27# 28# Nine Chale
Zambia’s electoral platform is democratic. The essence of Democracy is to ask the people to vote for representative who should run the affairs of the nation.
RB, HH & MCS have all been given the platform just like MMD was given the platform in 1991
There no STAGNATION because every Zambian has been asked to exercise his/her right to vote for the next person to lead the nation. So the people will make that decision on 20th Sept 2011. Its also very health for all us blogging to put our points of views. No one has been declared a winner. We are all defending that person that we think is a better candidate to lead Zambia for the next 4 years.
Cont..
When the Republic stayed in power for more than 50 years, hundred years ago, the USA was still a Democratic Nation. Democrats did not cry STAGNATION of a Political System. All what the Democrats did was to go back to the drawing board and find a better way of making themselves electable.
In recent years, it took Tony Blair & Bill Clinton to bounce back from the wilderness and trounce out the UK Conservatives & US Republicans. Therefore, if Sata has got the message to sale to the people, having served in MMD for 10 years, then he must do so and he will come out victorious on 20th Sept 2011
Cont..
One must not expect Sata to be given a silver plate as championed by Panji Kaunda a while ago. The fact that MMD has been in power for 20 years. Sata has to fight his corner. If Sata wins, then its fair play and RB has to go.
That itself is the essence of democracy. Its the Power By The People to choose their desired leaders. It all boils down to the voters. They are the ones that will make the final call and that’s why all political leaders are campaigning to grab the votes.
Good article, in 20 years we have lost so much and gained very little as a country under MMD government.
Good article just because it says we give Bo Serpent a chance to misrule our country, nonsense! Sata was part of the first 10 years of MMD and that is their dark ages as a party.
Gods asnogmt mere mortals, that’s all I can say right now! We had must have had a strike of luck last Friday installing this as it went right first time. It’s happily QoSing our LAN / WAN traffic as we speak. Today however, not so good. We tried to complete another install so we could document what we had done but had the same errors as you had. We tried a different machine and had got the same issue. Booting from USB was of course, fine. Thanks to this blog, we have now moved away from trying to install n HP DL320s and DL360s and moved to a virtual install. Great bit of insight
serpent or not pipo want change,good article,points are clear pleae argue with the above analysis and not with the author so relax ba mmd over zealous blind men.
Please don’t waste your time reasoning with unreasonable MMD bloggers. They pride in stupidity and extreme ignorance while posing as normal people. If the party can fail to elect a vice president still call its democratic, it is very telling. mmd fools have stolen millions from the nation and are very afraid that Sata will put them behind bars; the only viable solution is to lie that Sata is dead. Bad stratergy.
People power will decide it for all in a couple of days. The general public rose for change in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya so lets wait and see
Ba Bricklayer 11, what makes you think that Banda or HH are educated? By the way an undergraduate degree is nothing on terms of knowledge. We refer to undergrads as primary school kids when it comes to knowledge. YOUR ARGUMENT WOULD HAVE CARRIED WEIGHT IF YOU SAID BANDA HAS A PHD.
It is true that an undergrad degree is not that great in this day and age. But Sata does not even have that. Sata is a secondary school drop out. Banda I think has a Masters degree in something. Banda is not great but he is better than Sata. I think HH is the best of the three in terms of academic credentials. At least I can relate to educated people. I can’t relate to a thug or a kaponya.
Some bloggers are really foolish! How can a sane person mock MMD for not electing a VP while at the same time support PF where Bo Serpent and his entire leadership are unelected and went through a sham convention unopposaed!
Henry, I have always respected your writing but this is clearly not a well thought out or balanced view of anything. Michael Sata as has been said above was MMD. He only left because his ambitions of presidency could not be met. That’s all he wanted and still wants – to be president. If he had Zambia at heart, the pact with UPND would have worked, but he and his side fool Winter are bloody minded fellows not thinking about the Zambians staying in Zambia. You clearly are writing for the point of an ivory tower sitting out there in the diaspora. You seem to have either forgotten about Michael Sata and his tyrannical tendencies or you have been out there too long to understand what the man is capable of. He will kill Zambia. Michael is like a large child who needs constant supervision.
This article is not balanced.While it is true that MMD has the shortfalls listed above,the auther should also have mentioned the positive strides that the MMD has made.Ignoring all the strengths of MMD and just target were they went wrong is just politics.Secondly MMD is just a name the main drivers are individuals.Mulongoti or Sata of MMD and Sata of PF are not different.Even if MMD has ruled for 20 years, its the individuals who matter.The anlysis in this article is more from a cadre point of view than from independent interlectualism.
# 21 Thanks for that information on PF stealing UNIP transcripts. In addition to that, Bob and Lubinda have also been reported by UPND that they have also been stealing ideas from them thats why they are not on paper. I have watched two seperate interviews, both Lubinda and Bob were challenged by UPND thats what ever they were presenting on behalf of PF was not original but from UPND documents.
Yes, PF is a danger and should not be trusted since they have nothing to show apart from ideas from other parties.
There are all the same! PF will just like others promise this and that and then later come up with stories to their delivery failures. But as usual 2-5years down the line, we will have forgotten their promises because of our useless media who instead of following up on these promised projects, they will be busy reporting silly issues. Pathetic losers!
Well done Kyambalesa!!! wa ba chita ba “pushi”.
write more such articles
The author is not telling us the truth about the realities. The katengamalilo were purchased during the time of Masebo and she was implicated in that case, You have not mentioned her name since she has now crossed over to PF and thats part of your transperence? Mr. Sata deposited the funds for the ministry when he was a minister in his account and you call that transperency? Mr. Sata during the nominations with the bible in his hand informed the CJ that he had seven guns and some assents which made him look like the poorest president meanwhile everyone knows that he has assesst amounting to billions , is that what you call transperency? Before you talk ill about MMD, look at the guys in PF and ask yourself what role have they done in making Zambia poor.
Iyeee imwee! Sata is siick. The man has lost that vigour. He soon be dying. Lets not risk a by election. Lets instead give him a bye bye election. this time around. Dont say you were not warned. Remember Levy warnings. Sata is sick
ITS OKAY, BETTER OUT OF RBISH CORRUPTION
Kamalasha,
It is against Zambian culture to celebrate any person’s illness, political foes included. In this regard, the alleged illness is a falacy created by the MMd to persuade voters against voting for the PF Leader. Unfortunately for them and some of you, people have made up thir minds, PF and Sata are carrying the day next week and the Farmer from Chipata is retiring!!!!
As far as I can tell, this article basically says enough of the frying pan, let’s try the fire.
And that essentially is the whole problem with the PF – i.e. complaints only with no alternative policies or reason to believe that Mr. Sata and his band would do any better (…and, in fact, many reasons to believe they would do far worse!).
I also don’t think it is correct to say the MMD/RB government has only brought disappointment. While I agree, many things could (and should!) be done better, like it or not the Zambia economy is growing at an impressive rate with important investments being made in social infrastructure throughout the country. Why risk that by putting the country in the hands of someone as….. well…. as ‘idiosyncratic’ as Mr. Sata?
Champ,
Any student of development studies will tell you that having an economy growing without tangible benefits to the public is not good enough. Indeed you may show impressive figures of 6.5 to 7% of economic growh. But we know ehere this is coming fom, largely from the mines and some from the construction sector. If you take the mines, what benefits are Zambian people getting fro there at the moment, workers underpaid and casualised, suppliers cut off, social corporate social responsibility abandoned and with no meaningful tax contributin to he treasury. Basically, Zambians are specttors in this economic growth!!!
We have too many students graduating in Development Studies from both UNZA and Open University. The question has been why are we not developing as a country with such numbers of people with knowledge and skill in development studies starting from undergraduate and postgraduate levels? Assist me guys, especially graduates of development studies
The best chance Sata had was under the partnership with HH. MMD were greatly troubled by that alliance, but as you can see following the break-up they are quite confident and comfortable. The opposition will never learn, it has been the same trend in all past General Elections, come September 20 it will be too late to team up. What Zedi needs is a solid and formadible opposition to unseat the MMD otherwise it will always be a close miss till end of time, you need a clear cut victory that is not affected by arrival of last minute ballot boxes from Shangombo.
We all cry and strive for Good governance, Rule of Law, Accountability, and Transparency.These ushered in multipatism dispensation. We do not need trials of leadership.Zambians know what failures and successes MMD has done with all its leaders. Amendments is an on-going process. What is PF, its origin & its leadership? Zambia has not known any successes with PF in any form or shape(yet I hear they are rich what ever…) They have lamentably FAILED TO RUN FEW COUNCILS IN ZAMBIA flauting democratic values. Zambia doesn’t need PF and its too old leader. In balance, even RB is old but only this time for stability. Next time round Zambia needs new ideas from young leadership to take over in all parties to meet an everchanging world politicaly and economicaly
#42 well said and done ba #54 very unwise words indeed…imagine you were in government should we not throw you out………… MMD 20 years you still want more….this is a sign of selfish interest before the nation and the syndrome you have developed is NO ONE IS BETTER THAN MMD….by the way there is no cure for sure thought…Viva PF, Viva SATA…. few days to come NEW President, NEW Party, NEW Ideologies, NEW People, NEW fraudsters behind BARS…
Amazing how Senior Citizen Mr Jere doesn`t want to agree with this yet on another article he agrees something is wrong with the sale of Finance Bank. And, none of you people saw that. Keep them poor to rule them for long. Yes as long as you dont tell those villagers, as long as you dont give them education, they will vote. Donchi Kubeba should have been MMD`s!!!
Kyambalesa and his usual madness! he tried to form a political party but only he and his wife joined. his brother riduculed him, while his sister openly scorned him!
there is a lot of bitterness among the blogers. if this is kind of bitterness inside most of us, I fear for the christian nation, peace and all. Over 60% of the posting here have been on individual attack. Can we manage to debate without using words like homosexual, embesile, madness, kaponyas, Please, let us all look deep into our hearts and ask ourselves how many of our relative afford adequate food, medication, transport, clean water. How many have jobs, how many roads in this country are tarred. If we are not as selfish as our politicians we will see the truth and work towards improving the livelihood of the suffering. From this bitterness and words used by us here it seems most of us are concerned about what we are being paid by these politicians to blog heartlesly. Poverty guys
# 62 …………..dont worry about these bloggers coz they dont vote and most of them have already have escaped from normal reasoning anyway!
Kyambalesa and your fellow PD cadres, we have been through this and settled it. I have told you countless times since January 2011, that you cannot criticise MMD on any single item without applying the same to PF many times over. PF constitution is a One Party State constitution as stated by Guy Scott, not me. Under a PF government and constitution, all organs of state and public institutions including FAZ, will be headed by cadres, there will be no challengers to Sata (should read President but it is Sata), etc etc. These are the things that brought KK’s grand achievements before 1973 to a screeching halt, destroyed the economy. Have we forgotten the qeues for meal meal which led to riots in 1986? Come on guys, don’t cause your colleagues to vomit with senseless PF advocacy.
Why it that the majority of bloggers are in the diaspora? Because the majority of Zambians can not afford the internet. Another reason to change the government.
Okay, I’m getting tired of people who paint the grimest possible picture of the situation and then end their argument by saying “we need to try the PF”. Why not NAREP or UPND? Whats so special about PF? PF is not Zambia’s salvation. Don’t create a worthless straw man argument and conclude with the ridiculous notion that we need to try PF. First tell us what merits PF has to be worthy of our vote. Without that you’re driveling!! Has PF itself been transparent in its governance? What is PF’s democratic record? How has PF acted in cities where it has had mayors and Councillors? Have its members been transparent in their roles as cervants of their cities? What about its MPs have they disclosed how they have used their CDF money? If Not your argument is crap!
The writer needs to learn how to structure an argument.
He is basically saying this, MMD is bad, therefore we must choose PF. Wait a moment, what exactly is PF? Is it good or bad? How can we choose PF without actually knowing what it is?
First start by letting your audience know why they should choose PF, what are its merits. This is a ten year old party, what has it done in its ten years of existence that shows that it has practiced good governance and is transparent?
The reality is this, Sata has been chasing the presidency for 10 years and has an autocratic party with a constituition modelled after UNIP’s. In MMD he was ruthless in pushing Chiluba’s 3rd term agenda. Who’s to say he wouldn’t do the same now? Or turn Zambia into a single party state?
These down-side risks exist and have been acknowledged by many risk reports on Zambia. How can you show that Sata will not actually do these things but that instead he will be the paragon of good and transparent leadership?
PF’s unofficial motto is don’t kubeba, how does this create any sense of confidence regarding corruption? Shouldn’t he say don’t take their bribes, be upright! Look if PF has merit I’m all ears, but you have to tell us what merits it has.
Simply stating MMD’s weaknesses isn’t an argument in itself, because another author could write exactly the same article with the same argument but conclude; lets try UPND or lets try NAREP.
Without differentiating one parties strengths and weaknesses against the other its not possible to actually build a credible framework of analysis. Next time Henry build a proper framework of analysis and try not to be partisan, what about UPND’s merits and weaknesses or NAREP?
Be objective! My thoughts for now……..
Kyambalesa calls Zambia “my beloved country”. Really? Is that how to show that you love your country?
They dont love their country , they love themselves.
I think Henry is right to have centred his argument on the ruling political party because most of the other contesting political parties (apart from UNIP) have never been in power for him to have analysed their performance in terms of good governance. But change of government is certainly needed in order for us to see what another political party can achieve which the MMD has failed to achieve over the last 20 years.
@ Mwango B.
Thats a flawed statement. First of all he focuses on governance, he has to also state how PF has governed itself as a party, has it been transparent? Has it been fully democratic? How have they governed the cities where they have had mayors? All of those are indications of how it would govern the country. Any analysis has to compare like-with-like, you can’t just ridicule one party and say therefore lets try PF. What about the other opposition party, what makes PF worthy of the people’s vote beyond the fact that it has a large following? What differentiates it? All these things matter! Without that, his article is nothing more than partisan campaign material, not real analysis.
I wish I could say differently, but unfortunately this is a weak article.
@Katie Good,
Right on, this guy might as well say….MMD Sucks hey lets pick a random guy and make him president, we’ll be removing MMD and thats what matters. Thats so short sighted!
Its not about radical change for radical change’s sake. Its about making the best decision by weighing ALL THE OPTIONS AGAINST EACH OTHER FAIRLY.
Thoughts (Number 72): There is currently only one government in Zambia — the MMD government under the Rupiah Banda administration. Even the councils are administered by the same government; they are neither autonomous nor semi-autonomous. They operate under the Ministry of Local Government and Housing. The grants for operating the local authorities come from the Banda administration. So, you cannot logically compare a political party that has never ruled a country to one that has ruled a country. Of course you can if you belong to the ruling party and you want to find ways of saving your job at the embassy.
Thoughts (Number 72) … With respect to intra-party democracy, there is no political party in Zambia which can be said to be democratic. The MMD, for example, has continued to hound out individuals who have tried to challenge the incumbent president and vice president. This is the reason why Rupiah Banda was unopposed during his party’s convention. The post of veep has continued to be “banned” due to the many potential contestants who wanted to challenge George Kunda. Talk to Magande, Masebo, Mulongoti, Prof. Chirwa, etc. and you will learn the truth about the lack of intra-party democracy in the MMD. Of course the other political parties in the country have a similar problem.
@Mwango B,
Okay so there is no intra-party democracy…but on a continuam of best to worst how do they rank? Which parties are the most autocratic and which are the least?
#75 So you think that intra-party democracy in pf is better than in MMD? If Banda was autocratic, then how come Masebo was elected to the NEC when she herself categorically stated that RB has never liked her? Why did it take TEN years for PF to organise their sham convention where no ballot box was used? As thoughts has said, what is it that pf have achieved in the councils that they have run? In fact, Sata himself is on record saying that pf have failed to run the councils that they control.
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I do trust all of the ideas you’ve introduced on your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very brief for beginners. May you please extend them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
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Wow that was strange. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
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