CALL FOR A NATIONAL INDABA
i. The Government of the Republic of Zambia has since 1964 been attempting to build a state that is united, independent, and democratic.
The 1964 Independent Constitution left us with an executive presidency that quickly degenerated into a dictatorship culminating into the removal of the referendum clause in the constitution in 1969 and the imposition of the one party state after 1972.
The Constitutional amendments that were made in 1991 and subsequent years 1996, 2016 did not abolish the one party state clauses and all constitutional amendments were anchored on personal and partisan expediency as opposed to being democratic.
ii. Since the 2021 Presidential, Parliamentary and local government elections, the country has experienced political and social fragmentation, unbridled corruption and abuse of office, break-down in the rule of law, poor governance, and general economic decline resulting in high cost of living.
iii. There is a cry by the people for change to ensure that stability and peace in the country is retuned, to tackle the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality and the respect for the rule of law.
iv. The people have been demanding that the next government to be elected in 2026 must entrench constitutionalism and the rule of law and usher in a new period of peace, justice, fair play and development for all.
v. It is in this vein that the members of the National Consultative conference (NCC) plan to hold an indaba or a National Conference to discuss these matters and advise all concerned on our resolutions. Delegates to the Indaba shall include representatives of political parties, progressive mass organizations and independent nationals.
vi. The NCC is a non-profit, non- state and non-partisan Trust whose mandate among others includes event planning and education in partnership with other concerned citizens and civic organizations plan to hold an Indaba on a date and venue to be advised.
vii. The NCC is cognisant of the fact that amending the Republican Constitution in 2025 has been deferred by our government, pledge to cooperate and advocate for the enactment of a holistic, voluntary inclusive peoples’ democratic constitution as provided for by the current Republican Constitution.
viii. It is hoped that the delegates to the National Conference will reaffirm their collective commitment to forge and uphold the popular unity among the people of Zambia and support a movement or party that is committed to actualizing the following fundamental goals;
a. Enactment of a new democratic constitution in 2026 with a referendum clause that will stand the test of time and usher in respect of the Constitution, observe the Bill of rights, and insure the respect of the rule of law.
b. The reduction of the cost of living by making basic needs such as food, medicine, shelter, transport, electricity affordable and available to all by championing developmental fiscal and monetary policies.
c. The enforcement of Zero tolerance against Tribalism, Provincialism, Nepotism, Sexism, racism and all chauvinist practices that have tended to divide the people and spread unnecessary discord.
d. Ensure Unity in diversity of Zambians and advance Zambian culture and way of life and ensure the equal development of all regions and nationalities.
e. The professionalization of the public service, ensuring the practice of merit-based appointments and ending nepotism, favouritism and cronyism.
f. The enforcement of policies on Zero tolerance against corruption and abuse of office, enhancing good governance and uphold integrity of leadership and reclaim all stolen public assets.
g. The strengthening of programs and policies towards Eradication of poverty, Illiteracy, enhancement of social justice, facilitating the creation of employment opportunities by enabling both public and private investment in manufacturing, housing, roads, railways, energy and other public goods such as education, health and social security and national defence.
h. The empowerment of farmers by subsidizing production and supporting small businesses by providing affordable credit, market support and training opportunities.
i. The development of programs that will ensure affordable electricity and petroleum products and ensure their availability to all, ending electricity load shading and reducing the cost of petroleum products.
j. The advancement of polices that insure the de-politicization of the security services including the Zambia Police Service and security organs of government to insure Peace, stability and safe communities and invest in the security and defence of Zambia.
k. The insurance of the policy of enabling more money in people’s pockets, equitable and fair taxation, ending capital flight and ensuring Zambian ownership of strategic enterprises such as Mines, Banks and big enterprises that provide public goods.
l. The Advancement of the principles of non-alignment in international relations and insure the friendship with all Zambia’s neighbours and other countries based on mutual respect.
The very people who wrecked Zambia are now standing on the anthill and are the loudest in criticizing a government that has done better than any other since independence. Under the Chiluba regime they destroyed everything that UNIP left and set Zambia 50 decades back, such that by the time they were leaving Zambia was worse than a country that had come out of war. Their preoccupation during their time in office was stealing and rampant unbridled corruption and tribalism. Now they want to pretend to know better. May they never ever come anywhere near power again. Is it not wickedness for them to be talking like this after what they did to Zambia. The Irony of it is that their blindness to the positive trajectory that Zambia has taken from 2021. Its really saddening that people can be so hypocritical.
Please ba Daniel, let us be fair and factual in our criticism. Your claim that under the Chiluba regime, they destroyed everything that the UNIP government had left and set Zambia 50 decades back is a blatant lie. For all his shortcomings, FJT Chiluba together with Ronald Penza, his Finance minister, did his best and laid a foundation which made it possible for Mr. Mwanawasa to achieve what he did economically. You cannot take that away from these two gentlemen. They made the hard decisions that opened the doors to economic sustainability under ba Levy.
By the time MMD took over from UNIP, the economy had collapsed. The much talked about parastals (including ZCCM) were just shells. It was costing USD2million per day to subsidise ZCCM which had lost direction and abandoned its core business (mining) and ventured into laundry and lodges. The government was stone broke, so how were they supposed to sustain the subsidies? Basic consumer goods were in acute short supply including salt, sugar, mealie meal, bread, cooking oil, not to mention offals (yes, offals) and fresh bream ( which we now take for granted, Yalelo!). It is Mr. Chiluba who brought back fresh bream through Mr. Katumbi’s Tamba bashila(?) and sorted out the transport blues by liberalising the transport sector. Today, I can jump on a Power Tools bus and be in Kasama the same day. Under your glorified UNIP, it used to take weeks to get to Kasama with numerous breakdowns and unscheduled sleepovers. I made such a trip in 1980 when I was getting my passport. On the way back, we got stuck for days between Luwingu and Mansa.
This is the same process we are undergoing. PF utterly wrecked everything, including the moral fibre of the nation. HH and UPND are doing their best to build a solid foundation for future growth. It is a painful process, but it will bear good fruit that will last.
The first ten years after independence were glorious for Zambia but the last decade leading up to the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1990 were absolute hell. I am talking from experience.
JMC you always make sense in your comments, and I can relate with your view and logic. Although in my view, both UNIP and MMD were like Bill 10 and Bill 13. Both contained good and toxic aspects. UNIP inherited a healthy economic but it was controlled predominantly by Whites. UNIP blew up the economy not out of squander and theft, but because of the support for the independence of the neighbouring countries. I do not know if this was a good thing or not? Zambia supported freedom struggles for our neigbours, and we got the wrath of the Western world because naturally they gave support to their White brothers in the southern region. Malawi did not support the freedom struggle then. Between Zambia and Malawi I do not know which of the two is judged fairly by History? The credit I can give to UNIP is that the Guys where NOT Thieves or Pirates. I do not know if we can say the same about MMD, and the subsequent Political Parties which ruled us PF and UPND?
Bo Sitali, I support KK’s stance on the liberation of southern Africa 100%. As far as I am concerned, it was worth the price we paid and I would be willing to pay the same price again, inspite of the foolish behaviour of our brothers ( xenophobia). It was heart wrenching to see how our brethren were treated by the apartheid regime and it would have been immoral for us to just stand by and watch, like Malawi did.
However, we have had more than enough time to correct the dislocations caused by the liberation struggle. What has been our undoing is the avarice of our leaders exemplified by the looting of the PF regime and the lack of integrity by the average Zambian.
It’s a pity we do not have a media fraternity that can ask searching questions to Mbita Chitala.
Very true, he was one of the Mbala mafias, it’s a pity the journalists of today are completely blind to his role in the post UNIP era..
Outdated politics and politicians, irrelevant
Bitter Mbita!