Fri, 09 Feb 2018 11:03:20 +0000
By LINDA SOKO TEMBO
FOUNDATION for Democratic Process (FODEP) has questioned the relevance of some political parties in Zambia.
FODEP executive director Mweenge Chimfwembe said as an NGO they were concerned with the ever-increasing political parties in the country.
Mr Chimfwembe wondered if the existence of some of the parties was primed towards alleviating poverty or helping to end youth unemployment.
Mr Chimfwembe wondered if the political parties were relevant to the existing political dispensation.
He said the country’s constitution gave the right for any citizen to form an association to share ideas to express oneself and participate in the governance of the nation.
In an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Chimfwembe explained that the constitution did not address the issue of relevance in a democracy.
He said the country was seeing a situation where some political parties or individuals could be described as spoilers and that their nature was just to spoil the political fortunes of other people.
“We have political parties carrying very divergence views others are talking about economic liberation, promoting a green economy, pushing the agenda of youth empowerment, ensuring that there is equality in the sharing of the nation cake what they say pro-poor party
“Both the private and public sector actually arrive at the vision they want to see Zambia going through or embracing and fortunately we do have those visions up to 2030,” he said.
Mr Chimfwembe urged political leaders to carry out a self-introspection to establish if they were adding value to the nation.
“These are some of the questions that our leaders of the day ought to answer and address themselves otherwise they will lose the relevance and the appeal of the public.”
He said political leaders with weak and short-term vision would not last on the political scene.
“You will not last long on the political scene if you are just there as a gun for hire to insult and so forth yes you will exist in the meantime maybe your idea is just to spoil the political fortunes of other people,” he said
Mr Chimfwembe urged political leaders to avoid politics of discrediting one another but instead work on finding solutions to build a better Zambia.
