ABOUT INTRAPARTY DEMOCRACY!
The case of PF and UPND…
By Chanoda Ngwira F
Firstly let me congratulate President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and his team on his election as the Patriotic Front President and Members of the Central Committee respectively, in the same vein, I congratulate Mr Hakainde Hichilema on his election as UPND leader and all NMC members.
May we note with interest that precedence is of importance in everyday of our life’s being, we have always been faced and challenged by precedence and this we shall live by it no matter what. We have heard and seen people say and act based on precedence, courts have mostly based their judgements and interpretation of law based on precedence, meaning the issue of precedence will not be ignored.
That said, when Mr Hakainde Hichilema and his party the UPND went to their convention, they already had a Presidential candidate in the name of Hakainde Sammy Hichilema. This was sealed through an anonymous endorsement of his candidacy by the majority if not all members of the National Management Committee of the party, this is not only precedence, it is actually legally right according to the statutes of the UPND constitution. Then elections of NMC members came into play on the day of the convention, and this electoral process was as per prescription of the party’s constitution and yes all was followed to the later. This too is precedence….
On the other hand, the Patriotic Front, which is my party also held its General conference over the weekend last week. Before the actual day of elections, there was a central committee that anonymously endorsed the candidature of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu as a sole candidate for the Party’s top position. This was legally and morally right and still remains so as all the procedures and statutes where followed to the later.
In the same vein and according to the PF’s Constitution that requires that the Party President submits before the General Conference, his list of Memebers of Central Committee together with those other applicants for ratification or otherwise, the same was done and it so happened that the list of the Party President was endorsed anonymously by the General Conference. This was according to the statutes of the PF constitution. In short, no law was broken.
From the aforementioned, it is evil and hypocrisy of the highest order for one especially those of our colleagues from the UPND, to stand up on the mountain top and accuse the Patriotic Front of being undemocratic when almost the same process is what was used during their Convention. The two parties followed their constitutions accordingly and no short cut was used, no law was broken at all. It is morally wrong to point fingers at the Patriotic Front when infact it followed the law as per its constitution.
In my opinion, let us respect each other’s way of doing things, the two parties have two different party constitutions in regards to elections though with visible similarities. Pointing fingers at others using one’s constitution is moral bankruptcy.
Congratulations to the new team elected as Members of the Central Committee for the Patriotic Front.