PF and UPND’s reconciliation and dialogue

Sun, 24 Sep 2017 11:54:43 +0000

By HAPENGA HAAMUBBI

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu’s address to Parliament recently may have largely contained more of what we have heard before, but there were a number of new aspects which were important and significant to warrant focus.

 He shook hands with opposition UPND members of Parliament and some former members of his party, who are critical of him personally and of his administration, in what appeared to be a friendly gesture after his presidential address.

In matters of state or political relations, a smiling handshake speaks much louder than any written words.

This is the kind of human relations Zambia needs at this time as we try to treat and heal wounds of deep divisions caused by divisive 2016 elections and a seemingly flawed judicial system which left bitterness in some people’s mouths and tension in our country.

The announcement that there would be consultations with other stakeholders on governance issues and on a new constitution are welcome and would go a long way towards creating minimum conditions of mutual trust between and among our politicians across the political divide, which are absolutely necessary in a democratic society.

 Although our opposition political leaders must learn the humility and efficacy of talking to their adversaries and not at each other through the foreign-based media and international platforms.

Suffice to say, the Commonwealth moved in and negotiated a dialogue process, which led to the release from prison of the incarcerated UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and is now being headed by a distinguished African diplomat Professor Ibrahim Gambari, who just completed his first round of talks and inclusive consultations.

From what he was reported to have said, this process would be painfully slow and could only start in December, 2017.

The Catholic Bishops led by Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu deserve praise and gratitude for the work they did.

 Unlike former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who also chairs Brenthurst Foundation – an organisation established by the Oppenheimer family, founders of Anglo American who champion regime change in African countries for their business motives and interests, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, is a distinguished Nigerian scholar and diplomat.

He was Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985. Gambari had been appointed by then Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki-moon and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur effective from 1 January 2010.

He is currently the Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he served as the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (USG) for the Department of Political Affairs (DPA).

He was appointed on June 10, 2005 and assumed the post on July 1 of that year.

On March 4, 2013, Ibrahim Gambari was named by the Kwara State Governor, Abdul Fatah Ahmad, as the pioneer Chancellor of the Kwara State University, making him the ceremonial head of the university who presides over convocations to award degrees and diplomas and also supports the vision and mission of the university in all respects, including fundraising, social, economic and academic goals.

 As a university that continues to gain credence as a community development university with world class standards, the selection of Gambari is expected to give the institution additional international boost and recognition. Gambari is also co-chair of the Albright-Gambari Commission.

Back home, there are a lot of urgent and pressing issues, which require serious attention, such as police reforms; judicial reforms and reconstitution of the Constitutional Court; reconstitution of the Electoral Commission and implementation of recommendations of the Electoral Reforms Technical Committee to make our electoral process more open and transparent; further amendments to the Constitution to include the two main criteria which requires the presidential winner to satisfy the threshold of 50percent+1 of total votes cast, and 50 percent of votes in half of the country’s 10 provinces. This list is by no means inclusive, but merely indicative.

A week after Gambari’s first round of talks and inclusive consultations was done in Zambia paving the way for a unique political dialogue and reconciliation, the country is still divided and deadlocked, its people despondent and opposition UPND lawmakers are losing public support by the day due to their incendiary and hate speeches against fellow PF lawmakers during debates in Parliament. The UPND, must also play its part by refraining from making inflammatory, irresponsible and insulting statements against other political leaders in public.

The sense of frustration is almost tangible. The good news is at least Zambia is at peace with no more acts of arson aimed at public and private buildings.

The bad news is that many question how long it would last. The Commonwealth’s first round of talks and inclusive consultations brought with it unrealistic expectations but even the most grounded of observers have become irritated by its indicated lack of progress.

The country must move to created conditions of zero tolerance to political violence of whatever form and by whoever commits it and the police must be non partisan and professional in dealing firmly with it. Violence has no place in a democratic society.

Nevertheless, the country’s most notable achievement is to have remained intact. But its most efficient activity has been to reinforce a culture of impunity.

There seems to have been a very democratic distribution of political skirmishes – with the latest local government by-election scuffles, you can’t say one side is more violent than the other, all sides seem to have their snouts in the trough.

 Arguably, there will always be differences of opinion on many issues, but these differences should not degenerate into violence or enmity.

Even though, there will always be irresponsible hotheads and loudmouths in all political parties, but these should be caged for the sake of building a just society for all Zambians.

Needless to say, President Lungu and Mr Hichilema have seemingly set the tone for peace and unity, and their respective followers should now take heed. At the end of it all, people live together to form a society.

And the powers that be have to put in place policies that benefit the collective, not individuals.

Sometimes, we have to admire the so-called repressive governments because some do think about the collective good. Today, China finds US and UK hypocritical because all of sudden there is talk of monitoring people’s internet and social media usage.

China decided a long time ago that it would curtail certain aspects of individual behaviour for the collective good of society.

It may seem harsh, but sometimes I believe harsh tones have to be adopted if we are all to live in harmony. But hey, these are just the reflections of an ordinary Zambian observer.