A COUNTRY THAT LACKS SERIOUSNESS CALLED ZAMBIA
In the midst of drought, high cost of living, and unpredictable political landscape, the legislature declares nine parliamentary by-elections. At this point, I will not go into the illegalities of such a decision but the impact of this decision.
During pandemic, all government revenue lines went down between 20 to 30%. This meant that the government did not collect sufficient revenues to fund the budget, and consequently, a number of projects and government programmes did not take place at the detriment of the citizen.
I predict a similar occurrence given the extended load shedding hours, which adversely affects production in all sectors of our economy. This means that companies will underperform, with the knock-on effect, being that Zambia Revenue Authority is likely to underperform in terms of revenue collection.
To add salt to the wound, Parliament declares nine by-elections in addition to the endless local government by-elections. As this is a constitutional requirement due to the reckless and unwarranted Parliament decision, we have triggered an unnecessary expenditure that was not budgeted for. So, we have to divert funds from drought relief activities to fund by elections. Aside from costs, a huge labour force will have to be deployed to administer these by-elections instead of focusing on critical economic issues.
It never ceases to amaze me how dysfunctional this UPND government and its associated government institutions think. Do they really care about the needs of the citizens or simply care about their allowances and personal benefits, which accrue either such careless decisions.
The first culprit is the judiciary. Why has it taken so long to determine whether Miles Sampa was legally elected as PF president or not? This is the main case that will have decongested the courts from the “multiplicity” dismissals of other cases that have been brought before the courts of law. Does the judiciary not realise that this is of public interest and concern? If they did not realise, then now they should open their eyes because the Zambians now have to foot a huge by-elections bill.
Secondly, it’s Parliament. Why did they entertain changes to PF leadership when matters are still in court? Only the Speaker and her deputies know!
Fast forward, what happens if the main case of the legality of Mr Miles Sampa is not finalised by the time the by-elections take place? Assuming the courts rule against Mr Sampa after the by-elections have already taken place, then what happens?
Do you mean our judiciary cannot see that they are aiding lawlessness in this country? What is so complicated about the Miles Sampa convention case that is still not determined? The PF constitution is on paper in black and white so how much time will it take to contrast the activities that took place versus what the PF constitution says and determine whether the convention was in compliance or not?
Do we need to wait for civil disorder instead of pre-empting any undesired actions. In public interest, this matter should have been prioritized, and all we are seeing today would not have happened.
It’s concerning that our government and government institutions are in a sleeping mode while the country is being driven into a constitutional crisis.
I rest my case.
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party