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Lifuka calls for issued-based campaigns

Lifuka calls for issued-based campaigns
By Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe
Tuesday September 09, 2008 [04:00]

POLITICAL party campaigns in the presidential election need to focus on critical issues of fighting corruption and poverty, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka has said.

In an interview yesterday, Lifuka said political parties needed to tell Zambians how they could implement reforms in tackling corruption and dealing with the poverty that Zambians were faced with.

He said now that the nation was talking about protecting the legacy of late president Levy Mwanawasa, political parties needed to outline programmes that would sustain the country's governance record.

"Even when we talk about President Mwanawasa's legacy, what will they do to ensure that the legacy is protected?" Lifuka asked.

He said political parties had a chance to articulate how they would run the government differently.

"We don't want the campaigns to be based on fake promises. Zambians are beyond that," he said.

He advised whoever would be elected Republican president to urgently deal with the constitution reform process.

"One of the things that our late president failed to do was to build consensus on the matter of the constitution and one of the things that we expect from whoever forms government is that they build consensus on the constitution reform process as a matter of urgency," Lifuka said.

"Failure to give direction on building consensus on the constitution, dealing with corruption and poverty will indicate that those particular leaders are not ready to lead."

He said Zambians wanted to see an improvement in their lives and that political parties needed to field credible leaders who would achieve that.

Labels: ELECTIONS, POLITICS

posted by MrK @ 4:58 AM