Davis Mataka
3 November 2009
column
VERY simply defined, a democracy is a government of the people by the people for the people. And to actualise this concept, the four arms of Government; the Legislature, the Judiciary, the Executive and the Media must work in perfect complement to attain the desired results.
Although still a relatively new concept in Africa and Zambia in particular, this western type of democracy has known different models whose dynamism over the years has ensured great improvement and yet we can not claim to be anywhere near perfect. Not just yet.
Remember those days of the one party participatory democracy? Where voters were required to vote and choose between two candidates and the other candidate was a frog?
Do you recall on your favourite Zambia Broadcasting Services (ZBS) Television, how you were treated to a daily comment compiled from the ministry or was it department of National Guidance on national issues and generally how as citizens you were expected to conduct yourselves.
And it did not just end there, because if you did not vote or did not own a voter's card, you were automatically deregistered from participation in many social and economic events. Access to public facilities like the markets or applications for jobs or access to buy essential commodities was out rightly denied.
No matter what you may call it, a dictatorship, communism, OPPD or humanism, this was a necessary "evil", a form of democracy in its formative years. We needed to experience it to appreciate today the strides we have made.
In fact, many of those who were in power at the time still justify that type of Government saying its existence protected the nationhood of Zambia in a tempestuous era of liberation struggles. It is generally credited for having modelled the democracy we today enjoy.
Love it or hate it, democracy in Zambia is developing at an admirable pace. Comparatively, in the region, this democracy we so often poke holes in and pour scorn is the envy of many of our peers in the region and worldwide.
In fact Zambians should be conscious and proud of their achievements.
Alarmingly, rather than continue to make contributions on how Zambians can enhance good governance, some leaders have taken it as a sole pre -occupation to refuse to recognise the strides that the nation has so far made.
Without due consideration, there is a ploy to heap all the inadequacies and malfunctions of our systems on President Rupiah Banda and his Government as though he was the alpha and omega of the continued democratisation of the nation.
The man has only been in power for one year.
While he may be presiding over the nation as republican president, the challenge is on all the leaders and citizens of the country to ensure that this change that they want can be hastened for the benefit of all.
At no time has President Banda or Government stood in the way of constructive counsel and failed to implement programmes aimed at enhancing development.
Many times in its bid to get consensus on national matters through the organisation of different fora of debate, Government has been accused of lavishness and careless spending by the very leaders who claim to be the champions of democracy.
What comes out clearly is a deliberate ploy to weaken the systems of governance which as a nation we have painstakingly strived to develop into a model not just for ourselves but for posterity.
The recent attacks on the independence of the judiciary and more recently on the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) can no longer be encouraged.
United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema has led scathing attacks on the ECZ which in essence have been unfounded and maybe just to gain political capital directed his venom via the media and not through already established channels.
It is also irresponsible just as it is surprising that every election, some opposition parties have lost is always followed up with a claim of rigging on the part of the ruling party and never when they have won the polls.
Is the intention to cause the ECZ to lose credibility in the eyes of the public in light of the 2011 presidential elections or is it yet another plot to cause despondency and anarchy in the nation?
The UPND leader will agree that every institution has problems of its own, including his own party where internal insurrection has been simmering for some time.
Mr Hichilema will also agree that the electoral body is not in the same form that it was as at 1991. It has continued to evolve for the better over the years, thanks to the numerous observations and submissions which have been handed over for its improvement and not through insults in the media.
Mr Hichilema is in such a privileged position that he presides over the third largest party in the land and has a considerable number of members of Parliament in the National Assembly whose lobby is quite powerful. Is he failing to make effective change through the House?
Why then has he chosen to risk humiliation by abandoning his voice of reason, togging up in political garb and instead of being the good shepherd he should be, he embarrassingly chooses to harangue Government. Isn't he struggling to break down an already open door?
The mark of a good leader is not adjudicated by the amount of talking made in public but by the quality of counsel and reason that comes out by way of educating the public or rebuking the leadership in government in a dignified but forceful manner.
"If you run with the wolves, you will learn how to howl, but if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights. A mirror reflects a man's face but what he is really like is reflected by the friends he chooses," once said general Colin Powell, the first Afro- American Secretary of State for Defence of the USA.
Your guess is as good as mine which wrong friends Mr Hichilema has been associating with of late.
Similarly Mr Hichilema, who is considered one of the few younger, elite opposition leaders of our era, must strive to make a positive change in the manner politics are done in this country.
In fact, Mr Hichilema is in a better position than other politicians to understand that there has been an unbroken deliberate and conscious effort by the MMD government to improve and strengthen the political instruments with which the lives of the masses can be improved.
The UPND leader has been privy to most of the decisions and was actually part of the processes which led to forums like the Constitutional Review Commission or the Electoral Reform process.
A lot has been done so far to improve these important bodies and processes in the effort to improve governance and cast our newly found democracy in concrete.
It is understandable that Mr Hichilema as a leader must appeal to his followers in the party and most importantly coerce more new members to his flock.
But at the pace he is going, he will soon be eating humble pie if he does not re align the misplaced provocative militancy he seemed to have assumed.
Politicians do not have to be coarse in their mannerisms to win over the masses, humility and respect must be encouraged.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
