By Kellys Kaunda
SEVERAL UPND MPS AND COUNCILORS GO UNOPPOSED – LOOKING INTO MY CRUCIBAL FOR ANSWERS
Since we returned to multiparty politics back in 1990/91, Zambians have been stepping forward in impressive numbers contesting every seat.
In fact, interest in political affairs has been growing and intensifying every election season. It is therefore not a matter to dismiss lightly that a good number of seats have gone unopposed.
From where I stand, I see only one possible explanation – the state and quality of Zambia’s democracy. Specifically, political contestation in Zambia has declined considerably.
In other words, political development has declined over the past five years. Under normal political circumstances, elections in a vibrant democracy must see every available seat crowded with aspiring candidates.
Of course, it’s personally good for those who have gone unopposed and equally good for their political parties. They might even claim that they have been so good in office, no one can dare challenge them.
But there’s a darker side to the phenomenon that some people would dare not admit. The political space has undergone relentless convulsions over the past five years, it’s been a huge challenge to stabilize and manage internal party affairs.
Specifically, the main opposition party and former ruling Patriotic Front, PF, has been battered so severely, it’s legally inoperable and of no political use. What started out as internal leadership tremors were exploited by well-known external factors employing institutions that PF was powerless to take on.
The only opposition party with structures around the country and the potential to field candidates everywhere couldn’t do so. This experience is unprecedented in Zambian politics.
One day, a commission of inquiry must be set up to collect evidence pertaining to this very dark episode in Zambia’s democracy. This was not about PF. This was about Zambia’s democracy.
Zambia must one day pledge never to play these kinds of politics. Take on your competitor employing agreed-upon rules of engagement. But don’t strangle them legally thus rendering them inoperable.
The UPND government should not have exploited PF’s internal wrangles. But, in its selfishness and clumsy political strategies, it now owns the PF carcass now legally in the hands of their human agent – Robert Chabinga.
This is the only reason that UPND has already “won” some seats. It’s not a ‘victory’ any politician worth his salt should be proud of. It’s not a true test of one’s popularity, let alone, an endorsement of one’s record in office.
It’s a result of a severely battered and disfigured political landscape that renders opposition politics not viable.
But one might argue that PF is not the only opposition party in the country. True. But the reality of most multiparty systems is that there is always an anchor party or main opposition. With due respect to all other political parties, Zambia has always had one major opposition party which gave the country its true identity – a multiparty political system. And that’s what PF was until UPND killed it.
Winning for the sake of winning is as unhealthy as eating for the sake of eating. Just as the latter is detrimental to one’s health, even fatal, the same can be said of Zambia’s democracy. It might return to the dreaded and loathed one-party-system we fought so hard against.