THE PF MUST AVOID SETTING A WRONG PRECEDENT IN GOOD GOVERNANCE

OPERATION YOUNG VOTE (OYV)

Lotti House, 6^th Floor, Suite 21, Cairo Road P.O. Box 30153

Email: oyvleader2000@gmail.com Cell: 0955/77-769 688

LUSAKA

                                                                                                

8^th May, 2015

 

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

It makes very sad and vexing reading the kind of politics the people of Petauke particularly and Zambians generally are being subjected to by the Patriotic Front (PF) political party and Government.

OYV is of the resolve that there is no justification whatsoever for the PF to impose Dora Siliya on the people of Petauke, after she was rejected in the primary election for the adoption process, but also the petitioning of her 2011 election victory by the PF through its candidate that lost.  

 

First and foremost it is irresponsible, heartless and evil for the PF to have petitioned Dora’s election victory in 2011 and subjected people of Petauke to go for more than two (2) years without a representative in Parliament, and wanting to see a “powerful” candidate in her today. The PF went further and fought tooth and nail, Dora’s bid to re-contest her seat on the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). It is beyond being hypocritical for the PF today to decide to impose Dora on the people of Petauke just to waste another close to K7 million kwacha for an election.

 Our conclusion is that the PF will go to any lengths to disrespect the people’s decision even if it means them wasting money that could be channeled to needy areas like delivering a people driven constitution, placing medicines in health centres, operationalizing the student loan scheme among others. If they wanted Dora to be the representative of the people of Petauke they should not have petitioned her 2011 election victory.

 OYV is of the considered view that if Dora is really genuine on her joining the PF she should be ready to be an ordinary member and campaign for Mr. Daka or Mr. Banda who beat her in the primary election for adoption. If the two preferred candidates got 11 and 10 votes while Dora trailed with only 4 votes, why should she be imposed on the local PF and the people of Petauke? If Dora is not asked to throw her weight behind either Mr. Daka or Mr. Banda, then the kind of political prostitution that our politicians are used to will be difficult to stop. This also entails continued frustration of genuine, committed, hardworking and dedicated members of the PF a situation that may lead to them voting for the candidates from other political parties compromising the chances of PF winning the election and generally loosing popularity.

 With the foregoing, we at OYV are therefore appealing to the morality and conscience of the PF leadership (the President who is also Republican President, the Secretary General, the entire Central Committee) to rejected being put to test and taken for granted, by allowing Dora to be an ordinary PF member so that she supports the PF locally preferred candidate. PF must set a precedence of stopping political prostitution and also bring to an end the “Alpha and Omega” syndrome in politics by those that think they are indispensable even when they use crooks methods to remain in political office.

 We believe time to stop this rot is now.   

 

Guess Nyirenda (Mr.)

Executive Director

 

 

ALLOWING ILLEGAL STRUCTURE IN POLITICAL PARTIES FOR CONVENIENCE

5^th May, 2015

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 The attitude and behavior of our political leaders in the country of allowing some “illegal structures” to exist in their political parties when such structures are supportive of their political expedience and exposing them as illegal when seen not to follow those leaders’ thoughts and plans is not only hypocritical but also failure to promote tenets of good governance and observance of the rule of law at a basic level. It is so vexing and appalling to hear the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Chishimba Kambwili who is also Chief Government Spokesperson and Youth Chairperson in the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) disown and declare illegal the Media and Publicity Committee of the PF today, a structure he was mute about for  years. Just because this committee has differed with him on the issue of acceptance of Dora Siliya in the PF, Mr. Kambwili has realized that this committee is illegal and has no place in the structures of the PF party.

 OYV is of the resolution that it is very evident that our leaders do not learn and choose not to learn. Such “illegal” structure existed in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) called the “Die Hard MMD Young Wing” run by Bowman Lusambo. Leaders in the MMD kept quiet when Mr. Lusambo spoke supportive but the moment he seemed divergent from their views, the “Die Hard” was deemed illegal and disowned.

From these two experiences, it is clear that political leaders are not decisive of the kind of structures they need to enhance good governance and the rule of law.

 OYV would like to advise the political leaders to either legalize/legitimize  or stop the mushrooming of non-existing committees/components within their structures at the earliest to avoid confusion as this erodes the little confidence the members of the public have in the political parties but more so in the political leadership.

 Therefore if what Mr. Kambwili alluded to that the Media and Publicity Committee in the PF run by Mr. Brain Hapunda and now supported by Mr. Sunday Chanda does not exist and is illegal in PF, the party should ensure that the committee is legitimized with the PF structures or totally disbanded as what happened to the “Die Hard” in the MMD, as ignoring it is harboring a time bomb.

Guess Nyirenda (Mr.)

Executive Director