Citizens Forum urges Rupiah to embrace criticism

Citizens Forum urges Rupiah to embrace criticism
By Ernest Chanda
Tue 02 Feb. 2010, 04:01 CAT

CITIZENS Forum executive director Simon Kabanda has urged the Rupiah Banda administration to at least embrace criticism coming from NGOs and the Church if they cannot listen to their fellow politicians.

In an interview yesterday, Kabanda said there was a tendency by those in power to close their ears to dissenting views and treat such views as coming from enemies of the state. He said it was not healthy for the government to antagonise every stakeholder, including the Church where everyone could find refuge.

“In my view, the approach so far shown by the Rupiah Banda administration to criticism is a sign of bad governance. In a country where there's good governance, government is always receptive to different views even if they don't agree with them. In many instances, NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations and the Church have offered constructive criticism, including political parties, which this government has ignored,” Kabanda said.

“Now, if they cannot take criticism from their fellow politicians in the opposition, they should atleast listen to the Church and NGOs. We all know that the Church is where every person has found solace, including those in government. It is therefore wrong for anyone to treat the Church as an enemy of the state. In fact, the Church, NGOs and political parties, we are all stakeholders in national governance. The only difference is that we contribute differently.”

Kabanda called on the government to promote the spirit of co-existence despite the difference in opinion.

“One other thing we have to understand here is that government is not all the time present in all corners of the country. And this is where other stakeholders such as the Church, NGOs and opposition political parties come in to supplement. In short what I'm saying is that we are all partners in national development. After all even in a home you as a father do not expect to have the same opinion with your wife or children all the time. But do they cease to be your family members? No, they don't, you continue to co-exist and defend each other as a family” said Kabanda.

“My appeal to President Banda and his government is that they should open their ears more and develop a receptive heart. This tendency of treating every other stakeholder as an enemy will just increase tension in the nation. We are all partners in running an organisation called Zambia. It is not true that whenever the Church and NGOs speak, then they want to take over power, no!”

“We speak because we are always with the people; we see and experience their problems. I wish those in government could take this and for once begin to embrace every dissenting view in love.”