Maravi

Milupi calls on PF to keep party politics, state apart

Milupi calls on PF to keep party politics, state apart
By Allan Mulenga
Mon 23 Apr. 2012, 13:28 CAT

CHARLES Milupi has urged the government to separate party politics from the state. And Milupi has accused the PF government of elevating its party secretary general Wynter Kabimba above Cabinet ministers.

In an interview, Milupi, who is Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) president, said trying to recreate the one-party state in a democratic dispensation was ludicrous.

"This desire to recreate one-party state by emphasising the role of the party in a multiparty dispensation, at least Kaunda did it when there was only one party, but to try to recreate it when there is multiparty dispensation is ludicrous in the extreme because there is a tendency for the party to chew into state coffers; that will have tendency to fight people," he said.

Milupi said the government should not bring party politics into the administration of the state.

"Most recently, there was a statement from the secretary general Wynter Kabimba that 'private companies, public companies must respect the party...if they operate in Lusaka or Copperbelt, they must know the provincial chairman of the party'. How about the provincial chairman of ADD, we have got one on the Copperbelt too, shouldn't he also be recognised? Basically what he is doing is campaigning for work for them at the expense of everybody else. How long can they sustain that?" he asked.

Milupi said if the PF had campaigned on the basis that their party would be supreme, people would not have voted for them.

"Let party politics be separated from the state. If you mix the two, there is no way you can later on escape the charge of abuse of public resources and indeed corruption and nepotism. That is where they are headed to if they continue along that path," he said.

And Milupi accused the PF government of elevating Kabimba above Cabinet ministers.

"I was absolutely shocked on Friday last Friday in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross when the master of ceremonies, although obviously going through the protocols, where he said ´His Excellency the President and the first lady', the next was the secretary general of the party and then the ministers and so on. They are trying to force onto this country an idea that has been discredited throughout. Let them remember that in countries like the Soviet Union where the position of the party secretary general was so pronounced, it ruined economies," he said.

Milupi urged the government to elevate Kabimba through parliamentary appointment.

"Just like PF has a secretary general, all the parties have got secretary generals, including ADD. To elevate one above everybody else is wrong. If they want to elevate him, let them make him Vice-President; that means appointing him to Parliament and then giving him a ministerial position. To superimpose that is, in fact, unconstitutional. I urge them to be constitutional in whatever they are doing. I think that is the cornerstone of every democracy," said Milupi.

Labels: ADD, CHARLES MILUPI, PF

posted by MrK @ 5:57 PM