A head of state should behave with dignity at all times – Zukas

A head of state should behave with dignity at all times – Zukas
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Mon 03 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

ZAMBIAN politicians have cheapened and weakened the country’s democracy, veteran politician Simon Zukas has observed.

And Zukas said it was regrettable that there appears to be a close association between President Rupiah Banda and Frederick Chiluba, a man who, whether the courts had declared him guilty or not, was still suspect in the eyes of many people.


In an interview on Saturday, Zukas said the tone of the language being used by the country’s politicians had become childish.

He said the tone was below the expected standards, 47 years after independence.
Zukas said democracy was based on a free vote and the rule of law but this had been weakened and cheapened with the quality of debates, which were very low.

“I think everyone says we should concentrate on issues but leaders and their associates don’t seem to take notice of that and call each other names. Look at the newspapers, it becomes boring to read ‘this one looks better than the other or this one has a small brain’. All this is petty stuff and it is time we climbed out of this,” he said.

Zukas said Zambians were mature enough to expect a higher standard in the political debate.
He said it did not matter where it started from but it needed to be stopped because it was below expectations.

Zukas said a head of state should behave with dignity at all times.
“The President can behave with force where necessary. He should in fact not be partisan and certainly not align himself to be involved in global gymnastics referring to other people as dogs. We want the position of the President to have dignity irrespective of what party is in power,” he said.

He said another problem was the violence that characterised the recent by-elections.
Zukas said it was interesting that the violence was not in both constituencies and everybody knew that the Mufumbwe seat was a neck-to-neck seat.

“…And what worries me is that there are so many marginal seats where the competition will be neck-to-neck so we can expect a similar situation next year in all these seats if we allow violence to go on.

Those of us who are non-partisan have a duty to ensure that violence stops and does not go on up to next year,” he said. “Each side will blame the other side and I think we will get nowhere in that game. What we need and that is all the parties need to ensure zero tolerance in the electoral game.

The elections are based on political competition and they should not be a matter of life or death or life or injury.”

He said the violence was similar to gang welfare where each party as a gang was determined to win by form of street welfare instead of argument.

Zukas said the parties may not differ much in programmes but people should be allowed to choose by being convinced by one side and not being shown whose the strongest or who can intimidate the other side.

“We had violence between parties coming up to independence between youths of ANC and UNIP but we managed to stop them and continue to ensure that it did not happen again,” he said.

He said the violence in Mufumbwe was a lesson that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) could not control it and had no power.

“The police also seem unable to control it. The only way for us who have been in the political system for a long time is to come together and see how we can put an end to this,” he said.
Zukas said in Mufumbwe the police were suspected of taking sides or being party cadres in police uniform.

He said it should be easy for the police to show that the man suspected to be a cadre in uniform was indeed a policeman or a cadre as there were sufficient records in to prove that.

“Those who attacked this person should show why they suspected him. Let them show us why. I know that each side will blame each other and this will not get us anywhere. I think the police themselves should be asked to answer why they were unable to control the situation,” he said.

“They have enough police in the service to stand in each corner on the street when the President is travelling out of the country. Why didn’t they have enough people to go to areas where violence was expected and where they saw signs of violence.

The police’s pay may be low but the allocation to the service is huge and they have a duty. It should have never gotten to a point where steel bars and knives were used.”

And Zukas said it was true that former president Chiluba was declared not guilty by one of the courts but that had left many unanswered questions.

He said Chiluba was referred to a thief very often and had never gone to court to challenge that.
“The fact that the appeal against the not-guilty-verdict did not take place is regrettable and it is also regrettable that there appears to be a close association between our President and a man who whether the courts declared him guilty or not is still suspect in the eyes of many people,” said Zukas.

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