Maravi

Kabimba explains PF's challenges
By Roy Habaalu
Sun 05 Jan. 2014, 14:01 CAT

WYNTER Kabimba says senior PF members took advantage of the confusion in the party to exhibit themselves as being more loyal to President Michael Sata than others.

And Kabimba said the party would this year continue to build on the foundation of democracy and learn lessons from countries whose democratic principles and values served as good examples.

Kabimba, the PF secretary general, said the agitation from both within and outside the party contributed to misunderstandings among its members.

"2013 was a year which tested the foundation and ideals of our party since its establishment in 2001. It was a transformative year in that the party moved from being in the opposition into a party in government and the major challenge in this transformation has been widespread expectations from both members of the party and the general public. The party had to find a way of managing this challenge. Within the party, our members expected rewards in form of employment because of the massive discrimination they suffered under the MMD which had cultivated an extensive culture of patronage," he said.

Kabimba said outside the party, the public expected delivery of services on the basis of its campaign promises.

He said this was not an easy process to manage because the PF inherited a bad governance system, an inefficient public service, bad work culture and a corrupt economic environment from the MMD.

Kabimba said in the process of addressing the challenges, patience from party members ran thin, resulting in agitation from within.

He said had there been cohesive teamwork approach to solving the challenges, the confusion would have been avoided.

"What happened instead is that some of our members, even senior party officials, saw it as an opportunity to serve personal interests by passing the buck to other members as being the cause of that spirit of agitation in the rank and file of the party. For some, they saw an opportunity for political capital to make themselves more popular than others within the party. For some, it was an opportunity to exhibit and manifest themselves as being more loyal to President Michael Sata than others and the coalition of all these issues was affecting the foundation of our party," he said.

Kabimba said the foundation of the party remained strong at the close of 2013.

He said it was established that the party had become more national and commended its general membership for their determination.

"What strengthened the foundation of the party was loyalty and discipline from its general membership and quick action that the party took against those that had exhibited disloyalty and indiscipline with the party. The message was very clear that loyalty and discipline would not be compromised whatsoever and that there would be no sacred cows whatsoever in this process," Kabimba said.

He said this year, he would look forward to Zambia reclaiming and reassuming its leadership position regionally and continentally, adding that the world had a lot to learn from Zambia, especially how 73 tribes had lived in peace for 49 years and that ethnic diversity could be a blessing to a country.

"This came about because of the unity that the PF government under the leadership of His Excellency President Michael Sata had promoted among its people," said Kabimba.

Labels: PF, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 2:31 PM