Quarterly Bulletin

Bulletin 69
3rd Quarter 2006

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Readers,

In a well-known popular definition, democracy is understood as “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” One legitimate way in which such a government assumes office is through holding regular, free and fair elections. These are primary prerequisites for holding peaceful elections in a democratic nation. On 28 September, Zambia goes to the polls to elect the President, Members of Parliament and Councillors. Unlike the 2001, this year’s tripartite elections will be held under a new Electoral Act and Code of Conduct (but still heavily contested!). They both forbid before, during and after an election all corrupt and illegal malpractices, including bribery, impersonation, treating (e.g., giving or paying wholly or in part the expenses of any food, drink, entertainment) and undue influence (e.g., threatening to make use of any force or violence).

The Catholic Bishops of Zambia in July issued a pastoral statement, on Zambia’s 2006 Tripartite Elections The Truth Shall Set You Free, which was endorsed later by the two other mainstream Church mother-bodies -- the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia and the Council of Churches in Zambia. The Bishops, among other things, urge:

Every election is an opportunity for self-appraisal as a nation. It is not only about the election of leaders. It is an opportune time to review our past performance in order to prepare for better political choices for the future. Political reforms or transitions, of which elections are part, are meant to be a means of attaining higher goals of improved quality of the people.

As the Bishops further note, “Voting is not only a right but also a duty to the country to help identify and put in place credible people who will make state function in the promotion of the common good. Never get tired of voting, as your apathy will only give greater chance to opportunists to carry the day.” These strong words of wisdom should not only be seen to apply to the current elections, but also for any forthcoming by-election.

But, it should be acknowledged that changing of the Electoral Act and Code of Conduct is not an automatic route to changing people’s mentality. The new Act and Code will take time to be internalized by all citizens and political parties. Unfortunately, just like with other vital public documents there are a few copies in the street being accessed by the public and yet the expectation is that all law-abiding citizens adhere to its requirements. When will the government, at least for once, make these accessible to all?

Development challenges for the new government are quite immense. There are a lot of challenges that the next government will have to address. First, to give the Zambian people a new Constitution that will incorporate economic, social and cultural rights, women’s rights and children’s rights, loan contraction process and electoral reforms.  The last five years with regard to constitutional review yielded very little, only a draft Constitution. For example, despite government appointing an eight-member committee and having toured some countries in Southern Africa, no tangible results concerning the roadmap or report have been made available to the citizenry. Zambia still needs a comprehensive Constitution to guarantee equality of opportunities, rights and obligations.

The second challenge is to improve the living conditions of so many poor people in Zambia. That is, to improve living conditions of the “working poor” (struggling to meet basic needs) and their safety conditions, and to create employment for an increasing “jobless” society. Zambians are looking forward to a Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) that effectively meets this challenge. The third challenge is to invest in education and health care, which are the pathways to the development of this nation.  The JCTR recently released an important study touching on the “free education” aspect of this challenge.

Finally, the next government will have to face head-on the fight against corruption, and scale-up the holistic approach in the fight against HIV and AIDS. These are but a few of those challenges that the next government will have to face. There is a general feeling that politics has become largely technocratic and that it is no longer moved to ideals of a better society but only the concerns to administer (or destroy) what already exists and avoid conflict.  And so, politics of blaming the previous regime seems to be the order of the day. This is not the kind of politics Zambia requires, but politics that are result and issue oriented!

Simson Mwale

Editor

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