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Zambia seems to lack a mature democratic culture – Ngulube

Zambia seems to lack a mature democratic culture – Ngulube
By Sandra Lombe in Livingstone
Thu 07 Oct. 2010, 04:01 CAT

FORMER chief justice Mathews Ngulube has observed that the political scene in the country seems to lack a mature democratic culture.

In a keynote address during the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) stakeholders workshop in Livingstone yesterday, Justice Ngulube said the electoral code and similar provisions in the substantive law were all well intentioned and could deliver elections that were plainly free and fair.

“Section 109 (3) of the Act enjoins -‘No person or registered political party bound by the code shall contravene or fail to comply with a provision of that code’…Unless there can be sanctions or at the very least some undesirable consequences, contestants in particular will simply carry on as before. The political scene in this country seemingly lacks a mature democratic culture…the politics of poverty continue to haunt while the temptation by players to capitalize seems irresistible,” he said.

“Unless everyone starts to believe in the code, to breathe the code and to practice the code, no amount of regulation will stop the malpractices, especially those that can be linked to conditions of poverty and need.”

He said the challenge was not so much about the fining and incarceration of bigger numbers of offenders, but the waging of a sustained campaign to change the people’s attitudes, mindsets and perceptions so that wrongdoing was never rewarded and rebuffed.

Justice Ngulube said people should know that their vote was worth more than material things and that they should be interested in party manifestos, programmes and issues.

Labels: DEMOCRACY, ECZ, GOVERNANCE, MATHEWS NGULUBE

posted by MrK @ 2:55 PM