Tue, 29 Aug 2017 13:16:01 +0000
By Prince Chibawah
NATIONAL Revolution Party has welcomed the Political Parties Bill but objected to the provision to fund only political parties with representation in Parliament, 2017, says its president Dr Cosmo Mumba.
Dr Mumba said the Bill would enhance democracy in Zambia once enacted.
“As a party which has been championing democracy in Zambia, we welcome the Bill and will support it throughout. We are happy because of the fact that there is a clause which will enable political parties to be funded,” he said.
Dr Mumba explained that a good number of political parties in the country were facing operational hardships due to limited resources.
“At least now political parties will have resources to use for operations like disseminating information on various issues affecting the people,” he said. He stresses that only “serious” political parties should be funded.
“We don’t want to see the mushrooming of ‘Tuntemba’ parties because they know that there is now money. Let them only fund serious and big political parties like the NRP which I lead. I have been to all the ten provinces and we have established party structures across the country,” Dr Mumba explained.
Dr Mumba however said he did not support the clause that states that only political parties with representation in Parliament would be funded.
“Some parties have no MPs in Parliament but are relevant. We reject this clause and we hope it will be corrected,” said Dr Mumba.
