SOCIALIST PARTY MUST ACT FAST TO STOP THE HEMORRHAGE OF MEMBERS

SOCIALIST PARTY MUST ACT FAST TO STOP THE HEMORRHAGE OF MEMBERS

A KBN TV Editorial

It’s sad to see and read what’s happening in the Socialist Party (SP) today. We are witnessing mass resignations day in and day out. This is a matter of concern to everyone who loves democracy and multipartism in Zambia.

As a media house, we consider SP as a critical stakeholder in Zambia’s political space. We have hosted some senior SP leaders on our various platforms and we can confidently say SP has enriched political discourse through their critical and divergent views.

Like any other political party, SP must be allowed to survive and compete for a fair chance to lead the nation one day.
Over the years, SP has been one of the most promising political parties, participating in almost all Ward by elections countrywide. Since its launch, the party had attracted notable names that we had hoped would add value to the future of SP, only to see them resigning en masse lately.

SP is an important part of our political landscape and no one should celebrate its disintegration. It takes a lot of time, energy and resources to build a viable and saleable political outfit.

Given the strides the party has made since inception, it’s not a matter of debate, we need the SP voice in our politics and if its leader, Dr. Fred M’membe and his team want to lead our nation one day, they better begin with “charity begins” at home and address whatever is causing critical personalities to leave the party.

The SP leadership should do serious introspection and listen more than flexing the power muscle of firing and termination which has ended up triggering counter intuitive reaction of endless resignations.

Bembas say, “Umweo wamuntu, wabamukutwi ” – if you want to live long or make an impact, it takes listening to what people are saying. Those who have continued to resign from the party can’t all be wrong.

Almost every resignation letter we have seen and read has one thing in common. They have accused the top leadership of exhibiting intolerance and dictatorial type of leadership. If this was raised by one or two people, we would think they are just being malicious but the consistent reference to those allegations by everyone leaving the party signals that “apakomaila nondo, ninshipaliubulema.”

In order to save SP from total collapse, Dr. M’membe and his top leadership should heed the concerns of people and quickly address these issues. It’s very clear that something is broken and needs to be fixed urgently.

We know the Socialist Party in Zambia espouses ideologies from Venezuela, Cuba and to a certain extent Russia. It’s very clear that there’s an ideological clash with Zambia where our socialisation and ideological orientation is the democracy of the people by the people and for the people.

This is the only thing that Dr. M’membe and his team should fix. Give the power to run your party back to the people. They will stay feeling empowered as active participants, do the mobilisation for you and create a path for you into State House.

One thing that the SP leadership must realize is that everyone leaving the party has their own circle of influence and that’s why resignations are spreading from Copperbelt, Lusaka, Livingstone and other places across the country. It’s the influence of a bad report spreading like a wild fire or cancer..

We urge the SP leadership to act swiftly to stop the debilitating hemorrhage of its members or ignore our advice at their own cost.