Fri, 16 Dec 2016 08:40:43 +0000
Chilanga MP sleeping on duty
Dear Editor
The Member of Parliament for Chilanga Constituency, Keith Mukata, must be ashamed of himself.
There are areas of this constituency that he does not even know.
The Makeni road, from Makeni turn off, is an absolute horror and has been that way for years, and since he was the MP for the previous term he has no excuse for not having worked on it properly. Right now it is almost impassable and residents do not know on a daily basis whether they will make it from point A to B.
You can be sure of no votes in 2021. You just managed to slip through this year. No one will make this mistake again.
Angry. P.K.
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Is PF secretary general alienating Independent MPs?
Dear Editor,
Zambia’s ruling party is heavily divided over the fate of all the 14 Independent Members Of Parliament that have resolved not to support the PF in Parliament in protest against a decree by the governing party’s secretary general Davies Mwila that PF officials, councillors and mayors should not work with Independent MPs in their respective constituencies (“Independent MPs protest”, Daily Nation, December 14, 2016).
Although the gaffe-prone Davies Mwila’s suitability for the top executive post of the PF is questionable, he has become the focal point of a campaign by the affected general PF supporters to return the party to the democratic traditions it once proudly upheld.
The party’s emphasis on unity somewhat continued after its election victory in August this year, with the best example being the decision of President Edgar Lungu to appoint the current MMD president Felix Mutati, respected for his accounting, economic and intellectual prowess, as his Minister of Finance.
In post-election Zambia, the PF would have been expected to let democracy flourish.
Instead, it has seemingly displayed the siege mentality of its founder members and leaders.
This has been especially the case under Davies Mwila’s stewardship.
Since he took office nearly four months ago, the PF has stripped its grassroots leaders and members of their prerogative to nominate city and town deputy-mayors.
After the local government elections held earlier this year, the PF head office hand-picked deputy mayors after the poll in the party’s strongholds.
This robbed PF councillors of the opportunity to make a choice based on the calibre of the PF’s candidates.
As a result of the centralisation of executive power, Davies Mwila has increasingly become and is seen as the dispenser of patronage.
This has fuelled a culture of sycophancy in PF – something that cynics and critics refer to, albeit in a slightly different context, as unthinking, uncritical, kowtowing party line-toeing as being fatal to a vibrant intra-party democracy.
They are concerned to see how many PF die-hard supporters have so easily been seemingly cowed and apparently intimidated to comply.
Although uncomfortable with Davies Mwila’s autocratic streak, management and leadership style, the PF founding central committee and general members, have thrown their weight behind him to the dismay of newly-recruited party members and newly-elected leaders.
Needless to say, the PF secretary general’s infamous remark against the Independent MPs was not only alienating them from the governing party, but showed his failure to distinguish between loyalty to the party and country; between a multiparty democracy and a one-party state.
So, is the PF secretary general deliberately alienating the Independent MPs? Watch the parliamentary space.
Mubanga Luchembe, LUSAKA
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2021 will be hard for HH
Dear Editor,
—Now that it has been made so clear that Hakainde Hichilema is still UPND presidential candidate in the 2021 polls, it has also confirmed my fears of HH not entering State House unless…..
Unless, of course, he completely modifies his campaign stratagems and shifts from relying profoundly on South, North Western and Western Provinces, nothing much can be expected in his favour in 2021.
I am saying so because other competitors especially the Patriotic Front (PF) will this time round not leave any stone unturned in HH’s stronghold to make sure that the man is further enfeebled.
They are going to approach 2021 equally with a well organised arsenal and there is no doubt about that.
So HH is better off, in my view, to concentrate on the 7 other provinces which did not bother about him in the last two presidential elections. He can only ignore this timely advice at his own risk.
They say history has the aptitude of repeating itself and if HH wants to do the same things the same way then he has a date with a dark political future.
It is all nice to sound big and tough, but the people, the masters have always different ideas and opinions about their leaders.
Zambians now know who blows hot air and those who are serious with their agenda and aspirations.
The manner, however, in which HH has been declared the sole 2021 presidential candidate, leaves much to be desired. It is, in fact, dictatorial. Not a good start either.
If indeed HH believes that he is that popular and is still the man of the moment in UPND, why then is he stiff scared to go for a convention and seek a fresh fiat from the people or is he frightened someone might just replace him?
I am not a prophet of doom but if HH is going to play the kind of politics he is playing today, 2021 will certainly not be his.
Jay Kabemba, LUSAKA
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HH doing things for personal gain
Dear Editor,
Why is HH against the UNPD MPs, particularly those who are supporting the Government of the day?
Does being in the opposition prevent HH from contributing to national development issues?
HH must also know that he is not the one giving his MPs money to develop their various constituencies!
They all get their funding from the same Government he is despising.
My advice to these MPs is that they should first put the interests of the people who voted for them into office first rather than obeying HH who won’t vote for you in the coming 2021 general elections.
We voted for you to represent us and not HH!
Allan Asamoah
