WHEN PARLIAMENT’S VOTES ARE FOR SALE, DEMOCRACY IS ON AUCTION
In a constitutional democracy, Parliament is meant to be the final shield between state power and the people. It is where conscience should outweigh convenience and public interest should prevail over private inducement.
Yet the controversy surrounding inducements allegedly offered to MPs during the passage of Bill 7 forces a blunt question: what happens when Parliament itself appears negotiable?
A parliamentary seat is not personal property. It is a public trust. MPs are not hired contractors executing instructions from financiers or party hierarchies; they are elected to exercise independent judgment on behalf of citizens. When a vote is traded for money, favours, or promises, it is not merely a position that is sold, it is the sovereignty of the people.
Defenders of inducements often hide behind phrases like “party discipline” or “political reality.” But constitutional amendments are not routine business. They reshape the balance of power, representation, and accountability. Such decisions demand the highest ethical standards. To induce votes on constitutional matters is not pragmatism; it is constitutional erosion.
The damage does not end with one bill. When MPs are seen as purchasable, debate becomes performance, oversight weakens, and Parliament risks becoming an extension of executive will rather than a check upon it. A short-term legislative win achieved through inducement produces long-term institutional decay.
Public trust, once broken, is hard to rebuild. In unequal societies, democracy survives largely on belie; belief that votes matter and representation is real. When citizens conclude that MPs can be bought, elections lose moral weight, and political participation gives way to apathy. The poor pay first and pay most.
Some argue that no laws were broken. But legality is not legitimacy. The absence of prosecution does not equal integrity. Parliamentary records and public memory endure longer than political excuses.
Accountability may be delayed, but it is rarely denied. Constituents will one day demand explanations, without envelopes, protection, or rehearsed justifications. Leadership requires sacrifice, not convenience. An MP who fears those in power more than the voters has already abandoned representation.
When Parliament becomes a parley of inducements, democracy is placed on auction. And when democracy is sold, it is never the powerful who suffer most, it is the ordinary citizen whose voice is discounted and whose future is bargained away. Zambia deserves a Parliament guided by conscience, not receipts.
The Struggle Continues
Sensio Banda
Former Member of Parliament
Kasenengwa Constituency
Eastern Province
Very daft fella. You are a former MP because you failed to move
with the tide on what people wanted and what you and PF needed to do.
The MPs voted according to what their people asked them to do. The people of Kasenengwa and other
regions wanted the law to go through. Sensio banda, you will always get it bad.
You are a just a complete loser
Mr. Sensio Banda, how sure are you that the opposition MPs who voted for Bill 7 were bribed? If you are not sure, then you should not be repeating the falsehood like it was fact.
Personally, I doubt that they were bribed. They just acted in a responsible manner by debating the bill in a give and take spirit until a consensus was reached rather than blindly toeing the party line as Mr. Banda would have them do according to his definition of public interest.
Those who are accussing the MPs of corruption are soiling their reputations without a shred of evidence. By repeating the malicious lie, they hope to dent the names of the MPs. This is despicable.
Ba JMC,
Hakainde has introduced very tough cyber laws to silence anyone opposing him. The question is why are people not being arrested for suggesting that MPs were bribed? Could it be that the prosecution case would unravel the corruption involved in this bill 7? Is that why they can not dare arrest anyone? People are in jail right now for saying things they could not prove in court, but might have actually been true. Hakainde seems no stranger to embracing corruption, as long as it is him or his cronies conducting it, and he is benefitting. This is the nonsense you keep defending. Your Hakainde is a fake, a conman, that has managed to brainwash weak minded people that fail to reason for themselves. Fortunately for Zambia, there are some of us that see him for what he really is. A pathetic crooked psychopath. We removed ECL from office, and we will deal with this small boy as well.
REJECT TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION AND OPPRESSION.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Point of correction ba Indigo. Cyber laws were introduced by the PF regime and one of the first victims was Mr. Chellah Tukuta who posted something about Ms. Dora Siliya, who was then a minister in the PF government, on Facebook and was charged with criminal libel (?), found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison. If I recall correctly, he was given a presidential pardon by Mr. Lungu.
I think people’s reputations should not be trivialised. Damaging another man’s name through false allegations is morally repugnant and must not be excused under the guise of politics or freedom of expression.
If those alleging the opposition MPs were bribed were to be arrested, ba Indigo, you would be the first one to cry foul. But you are now using this very argument of lack of arrests as proof of the veracity of the allegations.
As for my being brainwashed, that is your subjective conclusion and you are entitled to your opinion. It doesnot in any way affect my mental capabilities. Just like if I called you deranged, it doesnot automatically make you a candidate for Chainama.
Finally, you keep talking about voting for change, who in your opinion is a worthy alternative to the HH you detest so much? You just might jump from the frying pan into the fire.
Ba Banda , be careful because tomorrow you may be accused of defamation. Do you want evidence that some MP’s were bribed ? Cyber laws are watching you. Those MP’s voted wisely , they are not like you who’s bitter for nothing. In democracy don’t always expect everyone to think like you. Please wake and clap for Bill 7 success into law.
Your argument Sir is hollow, doesn’t make sense at all. First and foremost, why and how are PF MPs so vulnerable to bribes? And if they are bribed, why should it be another person’s problem? UPND MPs few in number, managed to defeat Bill 10, why didn’t you bribe them? Are you saying they are more principled than your MPs? Don’t accuse the MPs of something they never got. Each MP comes to Parliament alone and has to make decisions alone. Parliament is country’s National Assembly and MPs regardless of their party affiliation are free to vote for or against any Bill of National interest.
I repeat that some people think the damage they cause through maliousness and innuendo is a free pass. Please sue them so that they prove these outragous statements are factual.
Ba Banda thinks the non sense that was allowed in Pf & mmd will be tolerateed.
Yes ba Banda you can continue the struggle with your bitterness. Wishing you success!