Thursday, May 01, 2008

Letters - UNIP, EDUCATION, ELECTIONS

Prof Chirwa, HH
By Chizinga, Lusaka
Thursday May 01, 2008 [04:00]

The situation in Kenya should provide some important lessons for the Zambian political scenario.

In good and bad times, we need to learn from that situation, begin to unite and work together. The way I perceive things, Prof Chirwa has been rejected by the MMD, but UNIP needs him. Let him forget about the MMD.

The sooner he does this, the better. Prof Chirwa should work on resuscitating UNIP and later join forces with UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema.

HH should swallow his pride and allow Prof Chirwa in a UNIP-UPND coalition to contest the 2011 polls.

That way, Zambians will have the quality change they have been yearning for. HH is still young and can wait for another term or two to take over. He can be Chirwa's deputy and still be UPND president to keep Chirwa in check.

This combination can send the MMD into oblivion. Anything to the contrary will keep the MMD in power for a long time.


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=41003

Govt's approach to education
By Mwewa Yamba
Wednesday April 30, 2008 [04:00]

Many of us are concerned about the goverment's approach to education, from basic to tertiary level.

Anyone who bothers to analyse the education being offered in both basic and secondary schools will undoubtedly agree that it cannot answer what we desperately need in the 21st century. It is myopic to dream of funding the universities adequately and then neglect the funding of basic and secondary schools.

Indeed, what prevails in secondary schools now is shameful; the funding from the goverment is insignificant and instead, the secondary schools are being funded by the public who are the poor majority.
The staffing in schools is inadequate and not well-qualified. The curriculum offered leaves much to be desired, especially if Zambia dreams of development accelerated by education. How much support does the government give to the education system in ensuring that a deliberate programme is there to have qualified staff in science-related fields.

Is there any government-sponsored/co-ordinated human resource development programme in place to solve this problem? What has been the input of education boards in improving and maintaining the standards of education which should be reflective of the modern challenges? The government should have statistics on human resource requirements and use that in planning.

Let our schools offer development-oriented curricula and the government fund the entire education system right from the lowest level. As usual, such appeals rarely make sense to our government as most of our leaders send their children to private schools and do not know what prevails in public schools.


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=41073


50% plus 1 gives credibility
By Emmanuel Mwaba, Johannesburg, RSA
Thursday May 01, 2008 [04:00]

Allow me to comment on Pastor Charles Mwape's statement that the 50 per cent plus one provision is a waste of the country's resources.

It is very disheartening for a man of cloth to, without an in-depth consideration of the facts, state that the 50 per cent plus one presidential majority threshold would be a sheer waste of a country's resources.

The pastor devotes many paragraphs on either praising Mwanawasa for his 'wise counsel' to the MMD MPs on the subject or reminding Zambians of the violence and lawlessness that would engulf the nation should the 50 per cent plus one presidential majority be enshrined in the Zambian constitution. These assertions cannot go unchallenged.

The pastor should consider certain facts. For example, majority rule is at the heart of every democratic dispensation the world over.

All civilised nations, developed and developing alike, ascribe to this fundamental principle as a conduit for a nation's development and prosperity. India, the world's biggest democracy and an emerging super power on the world economic stage, has the 50 per cent plus one presidential majority enshrined in its constitution.

Pastor Mwape completely misses the point when he declares that those advocating the 50 per cent plus one presidential majority are saying the majority vote gives "an elected president confidence and objectivity".

The argument is that it gives him/her the peoples' mandate to govern. In other words, he/she has the legitimacy and credibility as the nation's chosen leader. Whether he/she can actually be an effective leader and deliver on his/her pre-election promises is a completely different thing.

Zambia currently practices the simple majority presidential system. In his first term of office, Levy Mwanawasa had a 27 per cent electoral mandate of the Zambian people. A whopping 73 per cent of the Zambian electorate rejected him. Yet he governed us, albeit under protests from those who felt cheated for five whole years.

It took these same five years for the Zambian judicial system to find that Mwanawasa was indeed the declared winner. By this time, Mazoka was dead and the matter had outlived its relevance and significance. During the second term, he got another simple majority for a further five years. He further mothballed the constitutional reforms process to such an extent that to this day, we are still debating an otherwise straightforward but critically fundamental issue for our nation's development.

My question is: why must the minority govern the majority? Whose mandate do they have? Why should the majority be silenced? Last week, Bishop Desmond Tutu reminded Africans that they should be wary of the tendency by some African leaders to cling to power at all costs, refuse to honour the will of their people and create harsh laws to suppress the will of the same people they claim to serve. Zimbabwe is a classic case in point. There is no place for such leaders in today's Africa.

Pastor Mwape must realise that some current and past leaders in the countries where post-election violence has erupted were themselves elected as popular struggle and liberation heroes by the majority. During this period, there was, and in most cases, there is still no 50 per cent plus one presidential majority.

Hence to cast aspersions on the 50 per cent plus one presidential majority is not only ill-informed but myopic as well. In most African states, this system has yet to be enacted in the respective constitutions. In Zimbabwe, the 50 per cent plus one came into play only this year after SADC's intervention and Mbeki's mediation. All along, Mugabe has been refusing any electoral and constitutional reforms.

Zimbabwe is therefore a perfect example of how the 50 per cent plus one vote presidential majority can force such leaders out of office and not the other way round as the pastor purports. Even now Mugabe knows he cannot circumvent the constitution simply to stay in office.

Zambians must remain steadfast on this very fundamentally important principal because our detractors like Mwanawasa and pastor Charles Mwape will try to distort the truth and reality just to prove their point.



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=41002

Specialist treatment abroad
By Raphael Mukuka,Sydney Australia
Wednesday April 30, 2008 [04:00]

I do not wish to be perceived as heartless especially at such a moment but it’s important to be objective and face issues as they arise.

Michael Sata has been breathing fire on Mwanawasa’s neck, condemning him over specialist treatment outside Zambia, which costs the taxpayers a lot of money.

Today, he has been granted the same privilege he has condemned and because he is a direct beneficiary, suddenly it has become the right thing to do.

If he were such a pragmatic person speaking on behalf of the poor people as he claims to do, why didn’t he take the risk of going to UTH?
This goes to show how much we all would love to have the best things in life, especially when it comes to one’s health.

The same government he has continuously hounded has come to his aid when it’s not even standard procedure to go that extra mile, save on the grounds of ubuntu.

I doubt if he will, after this occurrence, ever talk harshly about specialist treatment that some people in our society have been privileged to have.


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posted by MrK @ 6:03 AM

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