Maravi

Politics - Zambia's circus

Politics - Zambia's circus
By Editor
Friday February 16, 2007 [02:00]

IT is increasingly becoming difficult to understand and appreciate what our political parties are really about; what they stand for. It is also increasingly becoming difficult to understand and appreciate what our politicians stand for and what they see as their mission or goal in politics. Political parties are formed with so much ease and abandoned in a similar way. One wonders if these political parties mean anything even to their founders. There appears to be no commitment to these political parties - they can be formed today with so much fun fare and abandoned soon after without any qualms. Everything about our political parties seems to be personal or personalised. They don’t seem to be institutions that are above personalities.

We saw how UNIP members abandoned their political party after their electoral defeat in 1991. We also have witnessed people jumping out of the MMD whenever they differed with each other. Many founder members of the MMD left the party in 1993 and formed the National Party. Their problem with MMD was principally Frederick Chiluba’s leadership. Many other political parties followed after this. Even Chiluba in the end had to abandon the MMD and pledge his support to the Patriotic Front - formed by a former MMD national secretary.

Earlier before this, Anderson Mazoka had left the MMD where he was a Bauleni branch official to form UPND. And now we have Sakwiba Sikota who was UPND vice president and for many months the party’s acting president abandon it to form United Liberal Party (ULP). In this endeavour he was joined by another former UPND vice president (Bob Sichinga), the party’s national chairman (Henry Mtonga) and Given Lubinda who was UPND’s information and publicity secretary, among other UPND leaders and members. Today, Mtonga and Lubinda have moved from ULP to Patriotic Front. And Sichinga says he has retired from active politics - whatever that means. We nearly forgot another senior founding member of UPND who has since quit the party for unknown destination - Patrick Chisanga.

It seems in Zambian politics we have abandoned almost completely the qualities of loyalty to political parties and the bonds of party without which party effectiveness ceases to exist. Our political parties are no longer really making much sense. They are increasingly becoming nothing but vehicles for spreading confusion and disunity in the nation. They have weakened our people by their practice of setting one humble section of our people against the others. They have divided the people into petty political parties that bring no guidance to the nation. They have divided the ignorant and misled our people into factions supporting unscrupulous, unprincipled and greedy politicians. Thus, they are weakening the people. It seems in this country people are joining politics just to fulfil personal ambitions or pleasure. They are not there to fulfil a duty to our people. They are not there in the same position and attitude of sacrifice.

They are not joined in a single purpose, which should be to serve our people. Everything about our politics seems to be a fraud, a big deception. And deception is always a pretty contemptible vice, but to deceive the whole nation in this way, a nation where more that 70 per cent of the people are wallowing in abject poverty is the meanest of all crimes. Politics shouldn’t be merely for the purpose of satisfying ambition or pleasure, for deceiving the people. This country doesn’t need this type of barren politics, it needs politics that are fertile, that will bring forth fruit - the social and economic development of our country, which is paramount in the midst of all. As we have stated before, we should all be aware that politics is an area of great importance for promoting development and community among all. And for this reason it should be taken very seriously and be regarded as a vocation, a way of building up society for the common good. Good politics will only come to this country when we have intelligent, honest and humble people who see politics as a vocation to serve the people join politics. No one deserves to be in politics unless they love their country and its people more than themselves.

This type of politics cannot continue forever. It has to be put to an end. Many things about our politics must change if our people are to stand a chance of overcoming the many problems and challenges they today face as a nation. There is need for a conversion of heart and for the transformation of the social and political structures in order to build our country. Our people must be conscious of their specific and proper role in the political community. Politics is a very important and noble undertaking, which needs people with high credibility and integrity. Politics is needed to guide the energies of all towards common good. This is because politics is the vehicle by which people cooperate together in order to achieve the common good. If our country is to move forward, honesty, dedication, credibility and integrity should be demanded from all our politicians.

Stability and vision is needed in all our political parties. The business of endlessly jumping from one political party to another does not engender confidence in our politicians and political parties. The politics of our country is increasingly becoming a big circus. No wonder most of the jokes today by our comedians are about politics, politicians and their political parties. Something is seriously wrong with our politics and it needs urgent correction.

Labels: EDITORIAL, PARTIES, SAKWIBA SIKOTA, ULP

posted by MrK @ 6:52 AM