Maravi

No one can win elections by relying on their tribe - Caritas

No one can win elections by relying on their tribe - Caritas
By Kabanda Chulu
Tue 02 Oct. 2012, 10:30 CAT

THE use of political platforms to seek dominance of other people is not right and should be discarded from the Zambian political scene, says Samuel Mulafulafu.

And Mulafulafu, who is Caritas Zambia director, has described President Michael Sata's speech to Parliament as a missed opportunity to give policy direction and address major national issues that have been raised in the past. In apparent reference to UPND vice-president Richard Kapita, who recently urged people of Southern Province to be proud and only vote for their fellow Tongas like Hakainde Hichilema, Mulafulafu said Zambians were one united' people.

"And no one can win national elections by only relying on their tribe, for example, if I am Lozi, I can't win by appealing to them because there is need for solidarity and cooperation with other tribes so politicians should not make statements that can be interpreted as promoting tribal inclinations," he said in an interview in Lusaka. "So using political platforms to seek the dominance of other people is not something that's right and should be condemned among all political parties."

He explained that all political parties have strongholds everywhere in world.
"It is not only here in Zambia but even in Europe where democracy is mature, you will find that parties have regions where they are strong; it is a natural thing but what is wrong is to believe that if a party is strong in a particular region then other regions must be subordinate to that region where the party is strong. That is what is wrong," Mulafulafu said.

"Everybody is a citizen and they are entitled to be treated equally like anybody who comes from any region…anybody has a tribe and there is no one who doesn't have a tribe and we should feel proud of this because you can't shed off and say I am neutral but it is something you are born with but you should recognise that other people have tribes too and they are human and should be treated with dignity."
He further said several national issues were raised in the past and were still pending.

"The Presidential speech to parliament was an opportunity where we thought major policy pronouncements will be made on issues like the constitution making process whose time frame is not clear and it has no legal framework," said Mulafulafu. "So we are greatly disappointed that there is nothing really in concrete terms to address issues that we have raised in the past and are still pending... nothing was said about them and for us that was really a missed opportunity."

Labels: CARITAS, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, TRIBALISM

posted by MrK @ 4:14 PM