Thursday, March 28, 2024

Zambians Deserve Better Checks and Balances from the Opposition

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Sunday Chanda

By Sunday Chanda

The Patriotic Front wishes to re-emphasize that our counterparts in the Opposition can still provide checks and balances to the government without engaging in character assassination, foul language and insults. In their efforts to upgrade and appear relevant, some Opposition leaders have embraced foulmouthed and uncultured type of politics, wrongly believing that belittling leaders in government was a hallmark of creating impact.

The objective behind such kind of politics by the Opposition is to attempt to generate hatred and anger against the Patriotic Front Government led by His Excellency President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. Part of this scheme is for the Opposition to unleash unsubstantiated allegations on the unsuspecting public. What the Opposition does not realise is that lies have very short legs and Patriotic Front is determined to prove them wrong.

Patriotic Front under the leadership of President Lungu will continue with the tremendous task of informing and alerting Zambians of the direction, decisions and challenges, including setbacks on this journey of transforming Zambia for the better. Not only will we acknowledge problems as and when they exist, but we shall go further to consider short and long-term solutions. Patriotic Front has the 2016-2021 manifesto to implement through fulfilment of promises made. In demanding for constructive engagement and issue-based politics, we challenge our opponents to single out areas of the manifesto which remains unfulfilled.

What we shall not do, however, is to compete in a race to the bottom because that is not what Zambians elected Patriotic Front to office for. We are often appalled by the amount of childish accusations displayed by those who seek to offer themselves as alternatives to the Patriotic Front. By and large, these are individuals filled with anger and bitterness who threaten the very fabric of society as they concentrate on agitating for divisions along tribal and partisan lines.

Zambia’s democracy must also be measured by having mature losers and selfless Opposition not one that seeks political grandiose even in the face of adversity such as cholera. One handicap that Zambia’s opposition must cure itself from is its emphasis on personality over principle. Some have built a cult of personality around their leaders despite them losing elections to a democratic process and repeatedly. This makes it difficult for the public to know what they stand for.

It is evident from our side as the Patriotic Front that Zambians deserve better from the Opposition. As the ruling Party, Patriotic Front is committed to espouse unmatched discipline and organizing power as it mobilizes its structures countrywide. We believe that Zambians deserve an Opposition which does not take politics like a mere game of football whose strategy is: ‘the end, justifies the means’. Evidently, the current Zambian Opposition has so far ‘majored in minors’, thereby ‘maximizing non-issue politics filled with vitriol and anger’. Zambians deserve better than this, and must get better.

The Author is the Media Director of the Ruling Patriotic Front Party in Zambia

13 COMMENTS

  1. Rightly put, Mr. Chanda. Last week Garry Nkombo went public questioning the president’s involvement in the ZAFFICO trucks criminally intercepted by party cadres only to discover they were ZAFFICO consignments. How does a whole mp fail to verify facts before issuing a public statement??? Since August 2016, what developmental innovation has upnd brought to parliament??? Further, this is an opposition that lies with impunity to the public, if they can lie and twist truths when in opposition, what are they capable of when given power????

  2. Well, Zambia in the first place deserves to be governed better than they currently are. The opposition is NOT governing right now. As they say, if you can’t stand the kitchen heat, you better go to the living room. The PF has governed the country for several years and the key words from the last few words have been tribalism, regionalism, Pa bwato, corruption and electoral disputes; so Mr Chanda please tell us how well PF is doing because we know that PF won elections in both cases through foul language, violent cadres and using all the basest attributes of human nature. You are just having a taste of your own medical prescription and if anything you should thank the sleepy opposition and partisan NGOs.

  3. I think the opposition are learning to be foul mouthed from Amos. Amos Chanda is the most foul mouthed Acting President when the real President is visiting cholera patients or somewhere.

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