Our Political Parties Should Improve Democratic Credentials

By Parkie Mbozi

In a space of two months two identical headlines were published in the local media. The first, published on June 2, 2020 read, “ConCourt allows UPND joining Mwelwa’s deregistration of parties case.” The second, published on June 18, 2020 read, ConCourt Joins PF to De-Registration of Undemocratic Parties Case.”

You might wonder what the two stories bearing the two headlines have in common and what brings two of Zambia’s leading political parties, and foes for that matter, in the spotlight. How did the two bitter rivals find themselves in the same situation, (you would be excused to say camp), and fighting a common eminent threat to their survival? Well, the story behind the headlines is that all the country’s political parties that were formed before the new constitution came into effect on January 5 2016 have been petitioned for de-registration and exclusion from future elections, including 2021, by one Benjamin Mwelwa, a Livingstone based lawyer.

The media reported that Mwelwa, who is also an advocate of the High Court, has petitioned the Constitutional Court, seeking an order and declaration that any political party which was registered and in existence as of January 5, 2016 and which has not promoted and practised democracy through regular, free and fair elections, within its political party, has breached Article 60(2)(d) of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2016. Mwelwa further avers that such a political party ceased to exist as a political party in Zambia on January 4, 2017.

Mwelwa cited Attorney General, Likando Kalaluka and the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) in the matter. Put in another way, Mwelwa has sued Kalaluka, the Attorney General (AG), and ECZ for dereliction or neglect of their duty of taking action on the affected political parties for not observing Article 60(2)(d) of the Constitution of Zambia which reads as follows, “a political party shall, promote and practice democracy through regular, free and fair elections within the party.”

“Your petitioner shall aver at trial that in fact it has become a norm in all political parties in Zambia for the political parties’ presidents to appoint the secretary generals and others to their positions. Your petitioner shall aver at trial that the political parties’ presidents continuing to be appointing secretary generals and others to their positions is unconstitutional,” stated Mwelwa.

Mwelwa also wants an order that ECZ should not allow the affected political parties to participate in future elections, as such acts will be in violation of Article 60(2)(d) of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2016 and section 18(1) and (2) Act No.1 of 2016. To demonstrate lack of internal democracy, Mwelwa further argues that, “Your petitioner shall aver at trial that in fact it has become a norm in all political parties in Zambia for the political parties’ presidents to appoint the secretary generals and others to their positions. Your petitioner shall aver at trial that the political parties’ presidents continuing to be appointing secretary generals and others to their positions is unconstitutional,” stated Mwelwa.

The two rulings quoted in the local media and which I refer to above result from separate applications by the PF and UPND to be separately joined to the case. On June 18, ConCourt judge Mungeni Mulenga joined PF Secretary General David Mwila to the petition after agreeing that the party has sufficient interest in the matter. Mwila applied to join the case, stating that the PF as the ruling party would be affected by any order or declaration that may emanate from the petition. Earlier, on June 2, the court also joined UPND Secretary General Steven Katuka to the petition after he demonstrated that he had sufficient interest in the matter. “As an interested party, justice demands that I be joined to proceedings and be heard on matters for determination therein,” said Katuka.

The ConCourt ruling implies that the PF and UPND have been allowed to fight Mwelwa’s case alongside the AG’s office and ECZ. They will argue that Mwelwa’s interpretation of the Article 60(2)(d) and section 18(1) of the 2016 Constitution is faulty.

I will not delve into the merits of the Mwelwa’s case as doing so would be deemed prejudicial. However, it should be noted that if Mwelwa’s case went in his favour, it would affect majority of the country’s political parties. Currently only a handful of parties were formed after January 5 2016 notably; Chishimba Kambwili’s National Democratic Focus (NDC), Harry Kalaba’s Democratic Party (DP), Freddie Mmembe’s Socialist Party, and a few other no-hopers.

Again, for the sake of avoiding transgression into the court case, I will avoid naming and ‘shaming’ the democratic credentials of each of our political parties. I will leave it to you to judge. However, you and I know very well which of our parties have never held a single elective convention or congress or whatever they would want to call it, since they were formed. Not even for a single position of party president. How the presidents ended up in those positions is much your guess as mine. You also know which of the parties have never held elections for decades. The children who were born when they last held internal elections are now in their teens. In some cases how replacements are made for originally elected officials who have left or died have no codified processes.

Likewise, you and I know which of our parties have held sham single-candidate and single-position ‘elections’, ostensibly with a pre-determined outcome. Equally you and I know which of our parties believe in ‘panga’ and ‘pamaka’ democracy, where their ‘delegates’ are literary whipped to vote for a particular candidate and with very unconventional methods of electing candidates. They are even parties that are literary run like inherited businesses, whose interest is only presidential elections. The profile of credentials can go on and on…

My point is that majority of our parties have done glaringly bad when it comes to intraparty democracy. The old English adage that “charity begins at home’ comes to mind here. It literary means that chances are high that what the parties do internally invariably gets reflected in what they do externally, in this case when they take over the country. I can give a few examples; 1. ‘Political engineering’ and dribbling started internally in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and it reflected nationally with, for instance, the Third Term debate of 2001. Internally you will recall that in 1991, after months of assuring that he would not challenge interim chairman Arthur Wina for the presidency of the MMD, back in his Musangu village Frederick Chiluba abruptly announced his candidature. This surprise and last-minute announcement caught Wina off guard and denied him the republican presidency forever. It was a known fact that Chiluba, also chairman for mobilization, was the most popular politician of the time, which Wina could do nothing about. And whoever stood on the MMD ticket in the 1991 general election, perhaps save for the frog that UNIP used to field against Kenneth Kaunda prior to 1991, would be elected President of Zambia. Wina was dribbled and the rest, as they say, is history.

Similarly, we have witnessed ‘panga’ democracy of the PF become a national political culture. It started as an internal (‘civil war’) between rival factions of Winter Kabimba and GBM. It later manifested at a larger scale during the internal ‘democracy’ to replace founding party president Michael Sata during the Kabwe ‘convention’. Again, other examples can be cited, including how the vigilante culture of the rival parties of the liberation struggle, especially UNIP and ANC, ended up as a UNIP political culture for years during the one party era (1972 – 1991).

I will end this article by proffering that strict adherence to Article 60(2)(d) of the 2016 Constitution is in fact beneficial to the parties themselves and more so to the country’s young democracy.

Policy Coherence: First, I have learnt from  South Africa that policy formulation through ‘policy conferences’, held back-to-back with elective conferences, is a crucial component of the democratic culture. Before every election, parties take time to reflect, deliberate and formulate policies through these processes. It is unheard of that a party would be heading into an election without this process. Otherwise how else can you have policy coherence within the rank of file of your political party and hope to govern from Day 1? As a result of such processes the parties have clear policy positions which distinguishes one party from the others. Our parties need to emulate.

The books of Exodus and Judges in the bible tell us how the Jewish people abandoned the bible (in the desert of Elim) and Torah (in the Promised Land) and started worshipping idols (golden calf during the 40 years in the desert). The lesson is that without regular policy conferences, it is easy for followers to lose sight of what their party stands for, understandably.

Fortifying Party Structures: conventions and elections are an opportunity to strengthen the party structures. Weak structures could reflect in weak government. It is an opportunity to reflect on what government structures – e,g. ministries – the party will constitute once in power. Recall the chaos of changing ministers and reconfiguration of ministries that occurred when PF just took over in 2011? That is what happens when there is no serious reflection before taking over.

New energy and vision: The Exodus was a journey of faith of the Jewish people. Forty (40) years in the desert of Elim was such a long time (of waiting for the ‘Promised Land’). People would naturally get old, tired and (unfortunately also) disillusioned. They would complain about eating ‘bread’ every day, lack of water, etc. When they are sent to ‘spy’ on the ‘Promised Land’ they will come with different interpretations. Some would come back with a report of a land of beasts (giants); only a few (the likes Caleb and Joshua) would see a land of honey.

The moral of the story is that whereas holding regular internal free and fair elections may appear as a burden or a ‘sensitive matter’, it is a blessing, especially for the opposition. Embrace it!

The author is a media, governance and health communication researcher and scholar with the Institute of Economic and Social Research, University of Zambia. He is reachable on pmbozi5ATyahooDOTcom.