ALL MUST ATTEND POLITICAL PARTIES BILL ‘INDABA’ SAYS TONGA

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 13:13:24 +0000

By Mukosela Kasalwe

ALL political parties irrespective of how small they are perceived should be engaged on the political parties’ bill 2017 as they represent the voice of the people, says 3rd Liberation Movement Enock Tonga.

Mr Tonga urged Minister of Justice Given Lubinda to ensure that all political parties irrespective of whether or not they had representation in Parliament attended the political parties bill 2017 stakeholders meeting scheduled for today.

He said the bill would be a flop if all stakeholders’ views were not heard for consideration and reiterated that the bill directly affected the Zambian people and Zambia’s governance system.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Tonga said at first the 3rd Liberation Movement (3rd LM) had been prevented from attending the stakeholders meeting on the basis that they had not made submissions but expressed happiness that Mr Lubinda intervened in the matter.

‘‘The political parties bill 2017 directly affects citizens and the governance landscape of Zambia, hence all political parties irrespective of whether they are perceived to be small should be engaged and their views heard for consideration, if not then this bill will be a flop,’’ he said.

He said the views to be expressed over the bill which would look at funding of political parties would be those coming from their supporters and sympathisers.

Mr Tonga called on the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue to be proactive and ensure that all political parties participated in the political parties’ bill.