BRINGING GOVERNMENT CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE

A few days ago, I had the privilege of escorting a friend of mine to Kanyama compound, not so far away from the City center. The visit was an eye opener. As I navigated through the pot holes, ‘road dams’, I saw the poor infrastructures people call houses and kept on asking myself whether its life that is not fair or there is some element of irresponsibility in this sad state of affairs.

To say the least, Kanyama is not only an unplanned settlement but a breeding ground for poverty, failure and cholera. I couldn’t help but to think of the children at the clinic and schools. I kept on asking ‘where the MP for the area is?’ My colleague was quick to remind me that the MP has no capacity to bring development to a constituency what so ever, only the government has the power to bring about meaningful development.

But wait a minute, what about this word local government? Since that term has some sort of relation to ‘Government’, why can’t they do something about this? So I spend quite some time thinking of the ‘solution’ like my Asian based PR friend whose name must-not-be-mentioned-at-all-costs would put it.

The solution is quite simple actually; it lies in something called systems and policy. You may have come across this awfully long word, ‘Decentralization’. My enormously huge Webters’ lexicon tells me it has something to with delegating management control to specific organs, in this case it will mean allowing individual local councils to run the affairs of their respective territories with little interference from central government.

Government has an unnecessarily huge structure that creates a lot negative bureaucracy and is predisposed to abuse by selfish politicians. There are too many truths to this. For starters, simple common sense will tell you that a developmental paper can take years through the paper trail, approval processes, and committee briefings so much such that by the time it reaches the operational stage, its either there is a recession or there is an election- just like that a plan meets its death.

A centralized local government does not ensure checks and balances, and breeds corruption. Because the system is too big and a simple thing like putting drainage needs the consent of the minister of if not the President, the PS, the town clerk, council of counselors and lord know who else- its hard to have people accountable for their assigned deliverables.

There is no one to point a finger therefore the performance of our counselors and MPs cannot be effectively evaluated instead they will all throw the blame on central government.

The system is also prone to corruption; the Auditor Generals’ report is my witness. Notice how many millions of Kwachas get lost in the ‘paper trail’. Every now and then we hear plot squabbles; counselors or party cadres selling plots and in the long run messing up the good plans made by our civil engineers. Now because the system is so huge, this cannot be investigated, it’s left unchecked and consequently our city is in a mess, no roads, shanty compounds, the list is dreadful.

I propose that we review the system of governance to ensure that the local government is given full administrative authority to direct development and enforce sanity in our various locations. This system should ensure that the council collects revenue in form of taxes and levy’s from community households and businesses, and use it to effectively usher in meaningful change in the way communities are governed. Under this new system the responsibilities of the town clerk and the Mayor should be reviewed for to ensure that both offices are relevant to society as opposed to reducing the Mayor to wearing ‘bling’ and attending fundraising dinner dances.

Lets do what so ever is required to legislate this ‘hands-on’ system of governance which by the way is practiced by affluent countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America, you will find that in the US for instance, individual states even go to the extent of making laws that are specific that particular state. I am of the view that this system is best suited to actualize real and progressive change in our lives and will bring Government closer to the people.

The Youth and Politics in Zambia- Another View

Just as well I was discussing the possibility of having a serious new and youthful candidate relish the prospects of presidency in the 2011 election with some youth leaders the other day. In our discourse, a number of issues came out. Ofcourse by serious youthful candidates I don’t mean the likes of New Revolution whatever it’s called and the other self proclaimed doctor.

At this juncture, it is imperative to note that the role of the youth in politics world over has been that of agents of revolutionary change, if you look at most independence struggles and major political upsets, you will glean that the youth have played a major role in its outworking. This notorious fact is both an asset and a misfortune for the youth. It can be used either for or against the youth as will be highlighted in the course of this article.

Today the youth are mere cadres and tools used to propel other people’s political expediency- it’s a sad state of affairs. We need not to emphasize on how the youth are sidelined in the Political realm as this has already been dealt with in the earlier article. But let’s look at this from a different perspective, what are the youth themselves doing to take a more serious role in the future of Zambian politics?

We have established that the youth are powerful forces of change; this means the onus to either be a factor or not rests entirely on us. Human beings by nature designed to be free moral agents with a free conscience- choice. Indeed the power of reasoning and choice is what differentiates us from animals. Now if the majority of the youth have chosen to be used by cunning politicians, if they have decided that it is better to drink from 6 to 6 and if they have succumbed to the dictates of politics as usual, then that is not anyone’s problem. In this case we the youth have no one to blame but ourselves because we have allowed ourselves to be used. Why do we expect the government of some super natural force to put or involve us in important national matters when we ourselves have not shown the ability or the willingness to lead?

A lot of colleagues in the various youthful circles have mooted pushing for deliberate legislation that will serve to ensure that the youth have a certain representation in key government structures such as Parliament and cabinet guaranteed. My contention is that on principle we don’t need to create space or positions for any group or association just for the sake of doing it. We already have constitutional provisions that allow each and every Zambian- man, woman, youth, disabled to participate and be represented in government structures. You can vote when you are 18, you can be a member of parliament when you are 21 and you can go for Nkwazi house when you are 35, isn’t that enough?

Yet the fact that the youth are not a factor in Zambia’s political realm is not entirely our fault. In the recent years we have seen a stronger bond between money and politics develop, the two seem to complement each other. The obviously smaller financial muscle power that most youths have has placed them at a disadvantage. The youth cannot compete on a fair and equal ground with older and much more established politicians. Sadly the marriage between money and politics is a grim reality that will continue to hinder the progress of the youth in Politics.

The challenges that face the youth in their quest to partake in the national cake are real and if let unsolved will continue to impact negatively of youth development। Until the youth wake up from their 44 year old slumber and take center stage in the affairs of this country, the situation will remain the same. The way I see it, this country is not going anywhere until, we ‘the leaders of tomorrow’ do something about the bleak fate of our country. The future is in our hands!

Copper, Maize and the Kwacha

The rate at which the dollar is moving is worrisome. The markets are in frenzy and the mealie meal prices are not in their best behavior. One wonders whether it’s really the after effects of the global financial crisis or there is some element of irresponsibility on the part of the movers.

Enock Kavindele a man whose Zambia/Angola rail line idea has suffered at the hands of the negative forces of politics finally spoke out about a few days ago. I am not his biggest fun but what he talked about made start to think there is an element of greed and irresponsibility on the part of the market players and the government itself that has resulted in Zambia’s latest misfortune.

The Food Reserve Agency is busy trying to buy Maize in South Africa, this is not only embarrassing and is uncalled for since FRA say they have these strategic reserves, the funny thing is that we really don’t know how much maize stocks we have in this country. What happened to the bumper harvest we had the previous year and years before? Was that all political posturing? Isn’t it ironic how the truth always catches up with people?

Let’s make an assumption and say that the FRA really recorded a bumper harvest, what happened to the maize then? Was it sold? To whom? The millers? How come maize prices went down during the campaigns?

Look I am just shooting in the dark here but the point is how much more about maize stocks or indeed government operations do we know about? You perhaps would equally ask this question for all but a reason, like Chibamba Kanyama stated earlier this week, this government is not inspiring enough. Its operations and very composition give little hope for the Zambian economy. I am yet to be impressed.

For instance, Kavindele questioned why the government can’t fund key strategic commercial farmers around the provinces who will be responsible for maize reserves. I think it’s a very good suggestion, why don’t we do just that. The government is directly responsible for feeding its citizens, no excuse, and right now they are failing in their duty. Zambia has no maize reserves as implied by plans of importing maize from South Africa, now just imagine if we were under siege, would we survive? I am yet to see GRZ being serious about this issue. It’s such a shame.

Today the kwacha is almost trading at K5, 000.00 to a US dollar; this was not the case in the good and long gone Mwanawasa days. Of course the price of copper has decreased due to less demand and there have been a few people greedy people on the market who have bought huge quantities of dollar creating unnecessary demand and landing us all in this quandary, but what has this government done to regulate the exchange rate to our advantage or to stabiles market sentiments? The truth is Magande’s fate and just this very government has sent dome jitters on the market and there has not been much put in place by the Reserve Bank to rectify the situation.

We never learn, all we think about is copper and look what it has landed us into now! What’s the plan Zambia? Where are we going? The state of our copper, Maize and kwacha is enough to worry each and every meaningful Zambian.

REASON AND TOLERANCE

The other day I got on a bus from Stanley bar in Lusaka town and if you have been on a woodlands flash bus at 9pm then you know what my experience was like. There were two or three drunk guys headed for Kabwata, the ‘working class and a couple of other nobody’s like myself. I sat in the corner making sure my phone was hidden from the infamous Staley Bar phone snatchers while getting some fresh air from the open window. The late night bus discussion started soon after we took off and this time around it was about the extension of the proposed National Constitutional Conference mandate by twelve months. I was surprised to learn how the chaps I stereotyped as loud and drunk possible PF cadres articulated themselves in their arguments against the extension of the NCC’s mandate. In their opinion, the extension of the National Constitutional Conference is not in the best interests of Zambians seeing as the country is facing a number of problems like the souring food prices and lack of fertilizer in the districts. In their own wisdom, they noted that the NCC costs K300m every year and that the money could for instance help the homeless in Mazyopa. (Internally displaced people)

The debate got sweeter by second and I was getting tempted to get off my shelf so as to add to the discussion. But before I could put my thoughts together, the discussion switched to the issue of the so called rebel PF MP’s and so I quickly lost interest and put my i-pod on- pressed play on a song by the Mulemena boys- intambi. Yet soon thereafter, a commotion developed in the bus- forcing my attention. Apparently a big argument was taking place between some MMD and PF cadres. The two parties obviously disagreed on some issues and were now venting out insults against each other. What really bothers me is that this is not the first time I have heard or witnessed party cadres squabbling. You may be saying come Mingeli! What do you expect? Those are just party cadres! But wait a minute! Can RB stand Sata’s presence or the other way round? Why is it that the two cannot stand on one platform to debate issues of national importance?

There is grave lack of intolerance and reason in the way Zambian politics are played. You may say that’s it’s the way politicians are and call me naïve but I think its much more then politics because its starts with you actually. Some of you may recall the articles I wrote prior to the October 30th Elections, it was quite interesting how when I criticized RB- I was called a PF sympathizer, when I questioned HH- I became tribalist and when I ridiculed Michael Sata- I was called RB’s boy. Ironic, isn’t? Now imagine if any of the operatives belonging to the aforementioned political parties took the questions I raised into serious consideration, the political landscape would have been a little different. As I speak there is trouble in the UPND camp, the same questioned we raised are being echoed by some prominent UPND members, Sata lost the elections due to the same regionalism and the personality cult mentality we spoke about and RB’s image is not the best today because of the companions we had warned him about.

If only we could debate constructively, this country would go a long way. Instead of completely brushing aside views that seem to challenge your own, it will be good to try and listen. There was a cheaper way of ushering a new constitution, if only the civil society, politicians and leftist commentators like the author were heard, the situation would have been different but now we may not even have the 2011 elections under a new constitution. Further to which one wonders what is wrong with PEACEFUL demonstrations calling on the government to put their act together visa-vies the food, employment and fuel situation in the country. This is the same freedom of expression that we keep talking about. What harm does a hungry person demonstrating his displeasure over the fact that he can no longer afford a bag of meali meal cause to a mighty state?

We are way past political and social infancy and should now strive towards embracing divergent views and putting politics aside to focus on making ours a better country. This calls each and every one of us to focus on the more important things; the welfare of the Zambian people and not politics. Did you notice that a combination of the MMD, PF and UPND manifestos is actually the panacea to Zambia’s economic misfortunes? Yet before we put shallow politics aside, before we concentrate on the gist and not the pizza and before we open our arms to opposing views; we are but miles away from reaching the Promised Land.

NAIVETY MEETS REALITY

As per custom, every Tuesday I make it a point to visit the local convenient store, that way I get myself an extra pizza: one for the evening and one for my breakfast the following day. The buy is awesome but for the wait. So just as well I bump into an old friend of mine who for purposes of this article I will call Tim. I met Tim about 7 years ago, together we were very active youth advocates committing ourselves to various activates such as school debates, model united nations and the youth parliament. Between ourselves we represented the Zambian youth to the fullest both at home and abroad on various forums a time during we both gained respect for each other’s ability to analyze and articulate issues.

After exchanging courtesies we naturally dived into a chit chat about what is happening on the political scene. As usual I am eager to connect with people with whom I share the same set of political values and beliefs so I quickly asked what he thought of the events that were unfolding then in the Zambian political arena. To set him in context I cited the alleged tribal remarks, violent threats, daylight bribery and corruption attributed to certain leaders in society. To my disappointment, my colleague told me that there was nothing wrong with politicians engaging themselves in the aforementioned vices, in his own words he told me that ‘it’s just the way the game is played’. He further asked me not to be easily swayed with reports in the papers and mere street hearsay after which he added an invitation for me join the youth wing of a popular political party to which the same allegations were attributed to. Naturally I tuned down his offer, citing my beliefs in honesty and fairness, the list is endless. I recall my colleague’s last words of advice in which he asked me to become ‘exposed’ and to stop being naïve. By then my pizza was ready and so I excused myself promising to make some time for the two of us to continue our discussion. Of course I wasn’t going to see him again, I was only being courteous.

Walking home that Tuesday, I began to think about what my friend told me and indeed what many others have said about my views being too strict and by the book. Many of them often advise me to enter the political scene, see the bigger picture and come to terms with reality. One of my mentors who has held public political office for over 20 years now often gives me the same advise, telling me that if I want to make in the ‘game’ I should stop being naive and come to terms with the reality on the ground and not my text book politics.

What is even more disappointing is that politics of today’s Zambia have been reduced to the something more of the usual procedure. For instance you know that after every election, all those who campaigned for the President will be given ministerial posts, not because they are capable of delivering but because they are loyal. As to what positive impact such appointments bring to society only the President knows. Now just imagine if Ministerial posts were given to those deserving and qualified- purely on merit, it will mean that the best brains in the field will be called for national duty. Ministers will seize to be political appointees meant to appease the faithful but will be serious civil servants set to impact real change on people’s lives. If I go on to suggest that perhaps the President should have picked someone from the opposition let’s say Given Lubinda to be Minister of Local Government and Housing, someone will call me naïve. But at the end of the day, UPND, MMD, PF , ULP, HP are all Zambians who want to serve their country, the only difference among them is that they plan on different routes of getting to the same destination- development.

Every time I read the news on LT, I become angry. I become angry with the way my fathers, mothers and uncles and aunties are toying with the governance of this country. You know it was funny the other day to see Mumbi Phiri a PF member of Parliament claming that she made a mistake on voting for that controversial salary bill. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Now being a former African youth parliamentarian myself I am aware that Parliamentary procedure can be complicated especially when you are dealing with the North Africans but the Zambian system is perhaps the easiest model in Africa and if an urban member of parliament is lost then one wonders weather this is the first time or she just has no idea what has been happening in Parliament since she took her oath. Driving to the point, UPND and PF voted for that bill and have no excuses. As I stated earlier and I will stick to my point; the constitutional office bearers don’t deserve a salary increment because the country’s economy is being affected negatively by the global economic crisis hence the people will be suffering. The salaries can only be justified if they will be increased across the board. But I know you may be thinking come on Mingeli, the reality is that the bill has already been passed.

But what reality is this? Perhaps they all mean to say that I should realize that politics is a dirty game in which one has to do what has to be done to gain political expediency regardless of weather its breaks the law or not and at the expense of the poor. Is it the reality of politics being a conveyer belt to personal gain and not public service- bringing about meaningful change in people’s lives? Comrades, I don’t think I can ever come to terms with politics being referred to as a game. I don’t think it is a game, on the contrary it is an honorable course undertaken by those disposed to servitude and those motivated by sheer determination to improve the livelihood of the millions who look up to them. A game is a gamble; you can not gamble with people’s lives nor can you toy with the expectations people have from you once they cast that ballot in your favor.

Look, red is red, black is black. Difference should be appreciated and intimidation never a method to bring people to terms with your opinions. Rules of engagement should be followed by the letter and not meant to be broken. If that is not the reality, I would rather remain in my naivety.

ZAMBIA IS TOO RICH TO BE POOR

Its was only like yesterday when we watched international news channels and wondered what the global credit crunch was all about and now we are beginning to grasp the reality of this crisis. Frankly looking at how under developed our economy is, I never thought that we would be affected. Perhaps I forgot my economics and the backbone of Zambia’s economy.

The panic on the Zambian market has mainly been brought about by the depreciating kwacha, staggering international banks and financial institutions and souring food prices. This calls questions to mind over the mechanism of our economy; what is the cornerstone of the Zambian economy? One needs not read encyclopedias to learn that the fate of our economic performance is determined by the price of our good same old copper. Zambia has not learned it lessons and yet again our most valued and precious commodity has plunged us into another economy downturn. Because of the good copper prices and seemingly good economic gains (in bits of percentages), politicians got into some comfort zone. They became comfortable with the fact that we had gained 6% economic progress, a progress which has not translated to the ordinary person. The politicians have not learned.

Events unfolding this week in our country make it sad to be Zambian, in fact embarrassing. Like I have said before and will say again, Zambia is too rich to be poor. Indeed to rich to be importing maize from South Africa. This signifies great failure on the economy on the part of Government and also tells us that the fundamentals of the Zambian economy are baseless, they are too weak. More than 40% of our budget is funded by the west- donors, 44 years after independence. The mines which are our major source of income are controlled by foreigners who I can bet with you will flee should the copper prices continue to be low, yet they have looted a lot of money from this country.

Its simple, due to the economic crises, copper demand is low and going by the law of supply and demand, the price is low thus affecting the kwacha and investor confidence in the Zambian markets. We are stuck again. The question is how prepared is Rupiah Banda’s capitalist government to take us out of this economic downturn?

I am not shy to admit that my opinions are deeply rooted in humanism and communist ideologies which have been stained by the west as evil and ineffective but look who is having the last laugh now. For many years the west had celebrated and praised their capitalist system which Chiluba adopted without understanding its effects on the average person. He quickly adopted the western brewed Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) and the fastest privatization program in the history of mankind which weakened. Our industry and manufacturing base is almost nonexistent; we have been reduced to the mercies of foreign investors.

Africa dear colleagues is much closer to humanism than capitalism, consider the African ideology of Ubunthu which was practiced by acclaimed African leaders such as Nkwame Nkruma, Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda. Humanism teaches us to think about the next person and calls on leaders to take their responsibility of sharing wealth equally; seriously. It teaches us to respect and care for one another. On the contrast, Capitalism is each one for himself and God for us all- free markets driven by the law of supply and demand, yes the very system that has landed us all in this problem. Seeing from what has happened in the major economies, if you leave the economy to the mercies of market forces, there is bound to be greed creeping in the market. People will borrow and borrow to an extent that should anybody default; a lot of lives will be affected. It is highly irresponsible for the government to leave the fate of human beings to selfish market players. No way.

Now the US and friends have realized that and they are busy defying the very ideology they contradicted for years- socialism, they are bailing and taking over banking and financial institutions. Now economic pundits are busy suggesting that government financial institutions should start buying stakes on the capital and money markets, but they are forgetting that once government starts doing that, interest rates will sour and you and I won’t afford to pay bank our loans mortgages- more crises. Government needs to regulate the economy to some extent- Moderate Socialism just like China, the world’s biggest economy.

Rupiah Banda and his buddies are following a western brewed free market concept and know nothing else than calling on foreign investors to drive our economy, this amounts to sabotage and irresponsibility of the highest order. Foreigners have no interest in Zambia other than making their profits- in bad times they will go and leave us wanting. Why does the government forget that year after year they are training business men and women who if given a chance would help turn the dreadful fate of our economy around? Why do they forget that if that Katemba owner at City market was given a loan or little tax exemption, in 5 years, he will be the next hyper market owner? That’s how McDonalds, Toyota and Microsoft started out.

The capitalist policies being pursued by Rupiah Banda’s government will not take us anywhere and they do not have the acumen to take this country forward. They have given themselves salary increments regardless of the impending economic crises, no regard for the hardworking teacher, plumber, carpenter, police officer and the men and women in uniform. PF and UPND have no excuse, they are equally greedy and should all go.

The farming season is on and there are no farming implements; fertilizer is too expensive for the average farmer to attain. We are still reliant on copper, copper copper copper. The same copper that landed us in problems in the 70s, 90s and now. Yet we are in a country with 40% of southern Africa’s water, vast fertile land and available manpower- why do we still import maize?
Clearly, ours fathers have failed, all of them; Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata and HH. It will not be anyone them leading us to the Promised Land. But it will take you and I. We need to wake up and start coming up with Solutions for Zambia.

No Pay Rise, Sorry

Even as you start to read this article, President Banda may be seated in his office gazing at Zambia's hottest bill, wondering whether to append his signature to it or not. How I wish he could take time to learn what his masters/employers feel about the proposed 15% salary increment to constitutional office bearers. More so because the laws of this land have it that public office bearers are servants of the people, yes, us the people, you reading this article and me. As such, we the servants naturally have a say when our servants or workers seek a pay rise, not so?

We have taken time to listen to your argument for the pay rise and we see little sense in it. This so because of a number of reasons - the first being that we have given you a job, but you failed lamentably even after serving your necks from job losses the last three times we reviewed your performance.

We had hoped that you would improve, but you have let us down. We have given you the opportunity, the resources and we have even volunteered to help you make ours a better country, but you have failed us dearly for 17 years. We, in fact, find it rather provocative that you have the audacity to ask us your employers for a pay rise when you have failed to deliver.

More than 70% percent of Zambians are living in abject poverty. Poverty according to the United Nations is living under a dollar a day. A dollar is about K4000 and is nothing near what we need to feed our families. A Pamela (rationed mealie meal), which we survive on used to be K500.00 a few months ago about is now K1, 200.00. We need at least two of these to survive. The cost of food is going up with each new day. The clinics are far off, are too few and don’t even have the staff and medicines needed to help our ailing children, brothers and sisters. We all can’t afford private clinics and the mere thought of Morningside Clinic is too far fetched.

You have also failed us on the educational bit, dear sirs and madams, 44 years after independence our beloved country only has two universities. Not enough to carter for the huge demand out here. Year after year, we are producing legions of ill prepared school learvers into mass unemployment. Higher education is only available for the elite few whereas the vast majority cannot afford the expenses that come with private and other public colleges. Our smaller children sit on bricks and their teachers have no chalk. The teachers are unmotivated and our children are uninspired. No hope for a good future; just shattered dreams.

Our is a country were its better to be foreign than to be Zambian, the laws, attitudes and culture favors others. The best deals in government are given to foreigners, the best resources, the best land, the tax system and the work culture favors others apart from our the children of this land.

We have no ownership of this country. How many Zambians own a building along ‘Freedomway’ Road? How many Zambians own a mine? Why is it that tax cuts are only given to foreigners and not us?

You have failed us. You don’t need an increase. If anything you need a decrease. You need to be fired.

It is strange that when the rest of the world is in an economic crisis, when copper prices are low, when farmers can’t afford farming implements, when mealie meal prices are at their highest, when UNZA students don’t know whether they will complete this semester or not… You come and say you want a pay rise. Ironic!

Kindly rescind your intentions, dear sirs and madams, unless the pay rise will be across board; policemen, teachers, nurses, doctors, carpenters, plumbers, traders, marketers, marketers, the army, servicemen and women. Only then can you justify your pay rise, lest your pay rise will be an act of gross injustice, irresponsibility and selfishness.

Besides, President Banda stands to gain a lot of mileage if he chooses not to assent to the bill; he needs some good PR right now. Don’t you think?

ZAMBIA’S ‘NEW’ CABINET

Nursing my green bottle while in that Zambia Institute of Marketing award giving ceremony at Sandy’s Creations a few kilometres south of Lusaka and seeing the former first lady in public after the funeral of our most beloved late President Mwanawasa was such a good thing for my Friday. I counted myself luckier when I heard that the guest of honour would be the ‘new’ minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Honourable Felix Mutati because then I could have firsthand insight into what this new cabinet has on offer. One thing though was for sure; Uncle Felix is a funny guy and nice guy so I knew we weren’t going to be bored.

He began by congratulating himself over his appointment (With a few cheers in the audience) and also for being the first minister to speak after the ‘rebranding’- in his own words. I am glad he spent some time telling us all about his new job. He called himself the Chief Executive Officer in charge of marketing at a company called Zambia Plc. I thought that was a nice one. Yet I am not too sure about what followed then.

A point of emphasis in his speech was that his job is to sell Zambia to the outside world, to attract investment in our country Zambia. He went on talking about how in the last few years the Government had done well in coming up with attractive packages to woo foreign investment.

My dearest Minister didn’t say much about local industry contrary to my expectations. He didn’t say how is his ministry would provide an enabling environment (Marketing) for local investors to have successful businesses. He did not talk much about incentives for the local lodge, carpenter, musician, farmer or the kantemba in chilenje. He did not talk about how is ministry should collaborate with the ministry of labour to ensure that foreign investors do not abuse Zambian workers or see to it that they adhere to our labour laws.

Nothing has changed, the new cabinet hasn’t heard the cries of the locals, they have not understood why they lost the urban vote but more importantly it just confirmed my fears of having the same old people who have failed us over the years run the affairs of beloved our country. Alas, the very composition of cabinet tells you that we are in for nothing but the same old politics and the same old policies that have failed us in the last 44 years. We are faced with new challenges which require new ideas and fresh minds. I expected better than that from the ‘new’ President. I was expecting a female vice President from civil society or from the business world for instance.

A walk in the main streets of Lusaka makes you think it was once a war zone area or is some historical site. More than 60% of Zambia is living in abject poverty. No proper roads in the city, no good schools for our children and our medical facilities are nothing to write home about. All this in a country that has 40% of Southern Africa’s water, a lot of fertile land, a good weather pattern, 8 neighbouring countries, peace and stability, available labour/manpower and what more could we be asking for than fresh brains with fresh ideas. Come on friends, Zambia is too rich to be poor.

Comrades, sometimes life is too busy and perhaps too comfortable that we barely notice the suffering that those who don’t have the luxury of an online newspaper are going through. Do you ever take time to think about that mother with three children living in a two roomed house in Chibolya compound selling tomatoes at City Market and making just enough to buy a Pamela for her house hold. Think about her children’s education; a government school in Kanyama were kids sit on bricks and will be lucky if the underpaid teacher actually shows up that day. Think about her children who when sick probably won’t find drugs at Kanyama clinic and whose prospects of being attended to by a doctor are illusive.

God help Zambia!

The Majority Doesn’t Always Win

So there it is, scores of people on the copperbelt letting out their displeasure with the outcome of the just ended October 30th elections. Had I wrote this article a day earlier saying there are deep feelings of un-satisfaction or contempt among people in the urban areas, I would have been called sorts of names. Dear friends, for me incidents like these (which must be condemned by the way) do bring out important questions that we all must consider critically.

Comrades ours are challenging times, the world’s major markets are in turmoil, our dearest copper has low prices, Meali meal is at K75, 000.00 a bag, fuel is taxing us and our pay hasn’t changed all this in a country without a cabinet. All these are issues that make the majority of Zambians not forget the elections and go on with their lives. Every time you take a taxi and ask the driver how business is going, you are certain to get the usual complaints about money being scarce and the lost hope after the number one urban candidate lost the election.

But let’s face it, the elections are done and a recount is on; all I would say is all the best. I contend that we should be looking forward to the 2011 Elections and see how the complaints and feelings of being cheated that were expressed in the last elections are avoided in the year 2011. The question is what can we do between now and 2011 to prefect the electoral system and avoid post election complaints from stakeholders after the 2011 elections?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have candidates congratulate each other after one has won the election? Because certainly for me, the most moving, charming and gracious speech that Senator John Mccain has given to date is his conceding speech in Arizona. He spoke so well, congratulating Barack Obama for his resounding victory and assuring Americans that they have made a good decision. I thought to myself and said that is the way it is supposed to be; mature politics.

Yet again ours is a small democracy hence so immense is the need for us to constantly engage ourselves in building and improving it. In retrospect, elections and what comes afterwards should give us an idea of how we are doing and what needs to be done to improve the process of Democracy.

The just ended elections were marred by allegations of rigging, irregularities such as people voting days later, inconsistencies in the number of registered voters and the actual voters in certain areas, the list goes on. The decision by the Electoral Commission of Zambia not to conduct a fresh registration of voters disfranchised a lot of people; you had an election where less than 4 million people chose the fate of the rest of the 10 million plus people. Arguably for the likes of HH and Sata who have a huge following among young people and those who have just come back home, they can cry foil saying a potential vote in their favour was not given an opportunity to make the choice. So yes there should be a continuous registration of voters. Voting is an important process in which all Zambians should participate, a notorious fact that cannot be over emphasized. It should be readily available and made easy for all Zambians. So let’s have continuous registration of voters.

There was also a lot of smoke still on the registration of voters, in some provinces opposition political parties feel that the numbers did not tally. There was a low turnout of voters yet the numbers are not so different from that of 2006 come on guys! That is the kind of thing that raises suspicions. Obviously since 2006 people have died and moved or even lost their voters cards, the numbers can’t obviously be the same or close to the same. Did you notice?

Who mans the register anyway? What guarantee can we have that it cannot be tempered with ghost voters? People who have died and moved voting? Something needs to be done to address such suspicions. In my opinion it all goes down to the autonomy of the Commission. To whom does the commission owe its allegiance? Wouldn’t it be better to have its independence more guaranteed? Who appoints the head of the commission? Is that something we should be thinking about while revising the constitution?

President Rupiah Banda won with not more than 5% difference in votes with Michael Sata. If you combine the UPND and PF Votes, the MMD is out numbered. The system of simple majorities does not give a country a majority President. Most leaders in these systems are a minority in that few people voted for them as compared to those who voted against them (By virtue of voting for other candidates). The essence of a democracy is that the majority wins, now you have an election with a President wining with minority votes, do you still call that Democracy? That is why countries like Zimbabwe and Kenya has the 50 + 1 system. Under this system a Presidential candidate can only be declared the winner if he or she passes the 50 + 1 mark. This ensures that the President elect is in the majority and is accepted by all players as being the one with the most votes. You will also find this line of thinking when you look at the systems in the United Kingdom and in America (With the two major political parties).

Otherwise you will have the likes of Michael Sata crying foul and hoping that a recount would overturn the tides, after all it’s only a 3%! I implore you to begin thinking about the 50 + 1 system for the next elections. That will help. Note that even the catholic fathers noted that the country is more divided after the elections than before and if you critically think about it, it’s because the majority of Zambians voted for Michael Sata and Hikainde Hichilema, if you combine the two votes, MMD is beaten by far, so the ‘majority doesn’t always win’.

Lusaka’s Dark Cloud

A dark crowd hovers around the capital, the mood on the streets is most worrisome, yesterday I took time to talk to a couple of taxi drivers, general workers, nurses, miners and just about the ordinary person on the street and what came out is a lot of helplessness and deep rooted anger. A lot of people, at least those that I had a chance to interact with feel much cheated, why; a bus driver told me it’s a man discovering his wife has been sleeping around. Whereas their reasons for feeling that way maybe as a result of their preferred candidate losing, for me their feelings brought out a couple of issues about our electoral system.

It’s very interesting how after every election we always have people crying foul; saying that the election was not conducted in a free and fair manner. Now there are two things here, it’s either the elections were not free and fair or that they were actually very free and fair. The losing candidates always cry foul and say they were cheated, it’s understandable, and losing can be a very painful experience. But you see that’s the beauty about football, in every match there is a winner and loser but losers rarely cry foul because the game is clear for all to see, you only win when you score more goals- very transparent system, easy to understand. You would recall that the last few years our national team has not been doing well, but we have not said the game was not fair, we have conceded defeat and we have said we have poor strikers. That’s all! How I wish politics was like that.

Perhaps it all points out to a few cobwebs in the electoral system, why is it that loser always says the election was not fair? Is it that the system or mode of election is not is not transparent enough? Could it be that the operations or conduct of the commission does not instil confidence in the voters and the politicians? Well it could as well mere lack of maturity or outward egos but let’s take the assumption that the frequent post-election out cries are justified.

Apart from the 2001 elections, foreign observers (referees as it were) described the elections that followed as having had been free and fair. Where they? 2006 and 2008 have both been marked with a lot of irregularities and indeed it is true that the current system is susceptible to manipulation by fraudulent politicians. There are a lot of things in this election that warrant suspicions. Starting with the announcement by the commission saying there will be no registration of new voters- a lot of voters were disfranchised. Think deeper, does that ring some bells? There were questions raised when some presidential candidates starting giving out donations at a campaign rallies, there were issues raised when party cadres were seen being ferried in government vehicles and many other issues that the commission turned a blind eye to. As if not enough the commission printed out extra ballot papers in huge qualities even they were aware of the fact that they hadn’t registered any new voters and that will would low voter turnout (in the two year period from 2006-2008 a lot of people have moved or died).

It is things like this that raise a lot of suspicious; people in general don’t trust the Electoral Commission of Zambia, just look at how people came out with crazy stories of trucks moving around town with ballot papers. Companies formed in the name of curbing rigging. People in most polling stations stood outside as the election was in process, counting the votes with the electoral officers; people literally took it upon themselves to guard the vote but did they?

If at all this election was rigged it was done in such a way that even election observers could not see it, I will tell you how; talk to me nicely. But the fact you have the number of registered voters not tallying with the counted votes tells you something. Do you know how many voters didn’t vote as a result of death or migration? Does that ring a bell? All you need is to stretch your imagination further, you will realise just how cruel life can be.

The opposition say the election was not free and fair but can they prove it? Now they are seeking a recount but the President has already been sworn in. Bingo! That’s the game! Catch up if you can, it’s not for the faint hearted. If you like you can go to court and contest the vote ask Miyanda and the late Mazoka (May his soul rest in peace); they will tell you it is a sheer waste of time, by the time judgement is passed, the 2011 elections would have been held. Wake up and plan for the next election.

All this underlines a more serious problem; both the voters and the politicians have low confidence in the integrity of the Electoral Commission of Zambia. Surely you have read or heard what HH said yesterday. This should be a source of concern least the commission risks serious voter apathy in the next election. The autonomy of the commission needs to be guaranteed. Who appoints the office bearers of the commission? Does the framework of the commission make it susceptible to influence by the ruling party? What about the electoral code of conduct?

No accusations, just questions that every well meaning Zambian should think about especially when we are re creating the constitution. Fellow bloggers, let’s toss it!

THE OCTOBER 30TH ELECTIONS; LOOKING BACK AND GOING FORWARD (Part 1)

It is a fresh and new week, pretty different from last week’s campaigns, energy and enthusiasm; at least Zambians had something on their minds that kept them away from their poverty. Zambia voted and a new president has been elected. Rupiah Bwezani Banda is Zambia’s fourth. Hate it or love it!

Yes the election is done and over with but there are a lot of issues that have come out in this election that merit our serious consideration.

Everybody agrees that this has been a tight race, very close. The voting patterns are not so different from what most us had predicted. Michael Sata claims his own along the line of rail plus the Northern and Luapula provinces, Hikainde gets his Southern province, Rupiah wins Eastern, Central Western and North Western provinces. Yes not so different from the 2006 election.

Notice how easy it was for any political strategist to predict the results or the voting pattern in a similar vein it doesn’t take a pundit to see that Zambians voted on regional lines. As expected the easterners went yako ni yako, the Northern and Luapula provinces went for their own Sata and the Southern province maintained their default voting pattern. Of course there may have been some who voted purely on competence but the dynamics of rural politics all point to regionalism in the voting pattern. This comrades is a very vicious reality. Regionalism or any form of tribalism is detrimental to national development and risks disturbing the much talked about peace that our beloved country enjoys. It is not fair for people not to vote a candidate just because he is not from this or that province. At the level which we have reached, we should address or approach elections with all maturity and objectiveness. We won’t go far if we continue to vote on tribal lines. We are far much better than that, come Zambians! The politicians themselves have a duty to make sure that they do not govern with any favour or show that it is advantageous to have a president of your tribe of from your region. This needs to show in the way a President appoints people in offices. You must understand that the only thing that keeps us together is our respect and love for one another. Keep that in mind!

From regionalism, another issue that has re surfaced in this election is the divide between the rural and urban votes and this has been the trend in most African countries, talk of Kenya, Zimbabwe and now Zambia. In any given election that has taken place in the last 15 years, the urban population has gone for the opposition while the rural population has voted for the ruling party. This is the trend, did you notice? For me this shows that the urban population are not satisfied with the way the ruling party have been governing this country. The urban voters are not happy and this is a big failure on the part of government or the ruling party; they have lost the urban vote in three elections in not more than 10 years.

Fine, you can talk about the country having registered a 5% annual economic growth rate, having reduced inflation and so forth but the question is how that translates to the common man. The people in Kanyama and Mwanabombwe don’t care about the inflation; they don’t care about 5% economic growth, what is 5% economic growth when they are buying meali meal at K50, 000.00 per bag? What is inflation below 10% when every time they get on a bus the fare is increased?

All the much chorused economic gains the country has made don’t mean a thing if the average pay is K300, 000.00 per month and the minimum standard of living is rated at K1, 800, 000.00 if not even higher.


Education is illusive for many, the two universities cannot accommodate the demand and the available private schools are too expensive for the common man. Graduates have been reduced to corporate kaponyas moving around the streets of Cairo road and doing briefcase businesses. They are no jobs in Zambia. No jobs. Most of my colleagues some of whom are reading this article have been reduced to doing jobs abroad that they otherwise wouldn’t have done back home. What a shame!

In my view, this explains the voting pattern visa-vies the divide between the urban and rural votes. Our colleagues in the rural areas don’t feel the pinch of a capitalist economy or is it that their conditions are subject to manipulation by fraudulent politicians? While the urban voters have access to Lusaka Times, the rural voters have to rely on government controlled media to know what is happening and the truth is that any media will only tell you what they want you to know. It’s really issues of information and the sugar. The dynamics of rural politics are very different from urban politics. In the rural areas it’s mostly what the chief says and who distributes the most sugar. I had visitors from Chipata a week before the elections and I took the time to ask them who they were going to vote for and they told ‘kaili amfumu anena kale’ in an apparent reference to an instruction given to them by the local chief to vote for Rupiah Banda.

Development is relative to the situation. What urban voters see as issues very differently from rural voters and that is one thing the MMD knows very well.

Moving on, the voting pattern also raises questions about capitalism. If you look at the Sata vote; you will realise that it is more of protest vote than anything. Sata has a very simple message; ‘I want to empower you economically’. Is it time for Africans to begin rethinking wealth distribution? Is it time we tried to regulate the economy more to spread wealth to everyone?

Sata’s message is not ideologically different from that of Robert Mugabe, they both are saying that it is time we Africans became a little selfish and enjoyed some economic power. Like the cliché saying goes’ who so ever has the money has the power’. If you give investors 3 years tax exemption then why don’t you do the same to the local investors? The truth is that Zambians are over taxed well over three times. Think about it! The government cries of not having money but one thing they don’t realise is that there is a huge informal sector out there which is not taxed. Why? Because the taxes are high so people don’t register their businesses? The best way to widen the tax base is to reduce tax and provide an environment that will help grow local industry. Then you will have more money to build school. Simple.

Perhaps it’s time for Africans to begin implementing economic policies that favour us and not the west. Economic policies are models, there are other models, and Americans have their own models which has plunged them into the crises they are in. Why don’t we seek models we can benefit from? The thing is the current economic policies favour either foreigners or the rich few, nothing for a poor me living in Kabwata. There is need for us to seriously re consider and find ways of creating an environment in which all Zambians can be wealthy. Maybe then, the urban voter will rejoice when they hear our economy has grown by 5%.

To be continued.