Mon, 20 Mar 2017 11:18:36 +0000
Parliamentary Pantomime melodrama
Dear Editor,
On one side of a barbed parliamentary political fence sit PF members of parliament who have called on the Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini to mete out stiffer penalties in future than just apologies against 54 UPND members of Parliament who boycotted the official opening of the first session of the 12th National Assembly on 30th September 2016 who allegedly want to gain political mileage out of the boycotts.
As if on cue – much like salesmen taking their wares out of suitcases – the opposition MPs had observed that UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was suffering from a guilty conscience over the manner the seemingly 16-year-old youths got their National Registration Cards (NRCs) in Southern Province and proceeded to register as voters before they attained the voting age of 18 years as first-time voters.
At the same time, UPND allowed, if not helped, in bussing and trucking droves of underage would-be voters to the polling stations to vote en masse for the UPND presidential and parliamentary aspirants.
On the other side of this fence are those 54 UPND members of
Parliament who have sued the Speaker of the National Assembly for judicial review in the High Court for allegedly being unreasonable and undemocratic when he reprimanded them over their decision to boycott President Edgar Lungu’s official opening of Parliament. Zambia’s parliamentary melodrama – part tragedy and part farce – has served up
the latest in a line of bizarre political plot twists.
A pantomime-like blame game has ensued within the National Assembly with claims and counter-claims being made by both sides.
For the observer enjoying the luxury of hindsight, the warning signs have been there.
A collection of seemingly unconnected events – the resignation of former UPND Bweengwa Member of Parliament Highvie Hamududu from the opposition party, the presence of Chilanga MP Keith Mukata in Parliament listening to President Edgar Lungu’s state of the nation speech when the rest of the UPND MPs had stayed away and even the Hakainde Hichilema’s never-ending presidential election petition judicial review – can now be seen as symptoms and causes of the growing UPND’s schism and disaffection.
Tellingly, Keith Mukata and other dissident UPND members’ actions loudly say that the party itself has become a threat to democracy in Zambia.
The National Management Committee (NMC) of the UPND is dominated by appointed Hakainde Hichilema’s supporters and has transformed itself into a dialogue of the deaf, where nobody seems able to listen to reason.
Billionaire businessman Hakainde Hichilema, darling of the UPND when he came to lead it in 2006, seemingly fell into the age-old trap of promising much and delivering rather less.
His 5-time failed attempts at Zambia’s presidency said as much about his own nationwide popularity. It has not helped much, as the UPND president has continued to forum shop the judiciary against the Constitutional Court’s ruling, often aggressively, to the chagrin of judicial officers.
The knock-on effect of all this, say UPND insiders, is that many upright legal practitioners might shy away from representing him.
But whatever happens on the judgment day, the legal practitioners on both sides of the presidential election petition judicial review will go smiling to the bank.
Mubanga Luchembe,
LUSAKA
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Councils should stop entertaining political rejects
Dear Editor,
I write to urge Councils countrywide to be careful and stop entertaining political rejects as they up their way of doing business of delivering various services to their communities.
Councils are the lowest governance bodies of the Government and should be careful not to be entangled into political battles which actually are irrelevant to them.
It has, however, become common for some councils to dance to the tune of some former Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Chairmen and indeed Councillors as they perform their day to day service delivery to various communities countrywide.
These will just expose your inability to serve the people as mandated by the Local Government Act and actually dent your image.
The majority poor and mostly women and youths need services of which councils are the core of providing the same.
On the other hand, serving politicians should be very careful with the words they use to describe the marginalized of our society.
It is not civil to call people you dearly respected just before elections only to call them squatters after they gave you the much needed vote.
Even if their communities are not legalized by the powers that may be, I feel there should be a civil and respectable way of addressing them.
These are actually the people who turn up in numbers to give you the much needed votes for you to be in those offices many a time and therefore deserve a proper identity.
They are actually the ones that change Governments.
Wisdom Muyunda
CHINGOLA
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UPND is a dead party
Dear Editor,
When Jesus Christ said “Let the dead bury the dead” he was dead right about certain situation that surround human being even today.
I can safely say the same about those truant UPND members of Parliament who boycotted President Lungu’s state of the nation speech to Parliament.
There is absolutely nothing that can change the mindset of these Southerners who are hell-bent to push their tribal wars this far.
They are ‘dead’ so let them bury themselves. No one who is alive should waste their precious time on them. They are what they are.
And with that kind of attitude, UPND can as well forget of ever ruling Zambia because they are already seriously dividing this nation into two regions-one weak and the other strong.
Come 2021, with or without President Edgar Lungu, the UPND will still be the weeping boys because politics is about numbers and since the party has decided to cling to the ‘Bantu Botatwe’ style of politics, it is weak and will remain in opposition until perhaps Jesus returns to this world.
You know even stubbornness has limits and its breaking point can have devastating effects , only that UPND leaders will realise this too late, but it is coming.
Let them boycott as many times as they want or indeed refuse to recognize President Lungu as their republican President but deep down their minds, they know the true status of Mr Lungu.
The disappointment of the loser is great, painful and those on the receiving end cannot somehow stop behaving like sleepwalkers, I suppose it also their democratic right to do so.
The PF has a duty to implement development projects and should not be swayed by cheap minds such as those of the UPND members of Parliament who think they know better.
When I was in school some years back, my English teacher from UK advised my classmates that NEVER stand in the way of lunatics. He said always give them way and watch them from behind because if you don’t they will hurt you.
Do not get me wrong the people of Southern Province are nice citizens of this great nation who mix well with other tribes. It is at UPND where that feeling of being a Tonga starts and ends.
Go in any township in Zambia today Tongas and other tribes are living and marrying daily. Politicians are the only ones who want to promote tribalism. A big shame on them.
So for now forget about UPND. It is a dead party which will soon bury itself.
Josiah Soko, Salima Road, Matero
