Party Adoptions: Of Adoptions, Bribery and Corruption Allegations!

By Bill M. Kaping’a Political analyst

Yona Musukwa, who prides himself as a political and social activist, has presented two perfect scenarios regarding the on-going party adoptions. well……… the flurry of allegations bordering on bribery and corruption notwithstanding.

He writes that in the first scenario, you will find that candidate A is very popular and wins the ward primaries, but tumbles in the constituency or provincial primaries. On the other hand, candidate B performs miserably in ward primaries, but goes on to scoop constituency or provincial primaries.

“Now, who is really popular between the two candidates or can be considered as the choice of the grassroots?” he asks.

He further goes on to elucidate the second scenario: Candidate A, who happens to be a ward party official, wins ward primaries, but fails constituency or provincial primaries while candidate B, who happens to be a provincial party official, fails ward primaries, but wins constituency or provincial primaries.

“Who can be said to be popular with the grassroots between the two candidates?” he wonders.

This seems to be the ghost that is haunting our two major political parties – ruling Patriotic Front (PF) and main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), hence their apparent dragging of feet to unveil names of their preferred candidates to attempt a run to Manda hill or indeed various council chambers dotted around the country. This……ladies and gentlemen, constitutes the thrust of this write up.

As one prominent politician, whom by the way we’ve trouble figuring-out what he stands for, asserted recently; make no mistake, this years’ elections is a two-horse race between PF and UPND. We won’t therefore waste time discussing some of these ‘brief case’ political parties whose leaders are merely individuals pregnant with oversized egos……..and probably intoxicated with being referred to as bwana President!

Wait a minute…….didn’t late President Frederick Chiluba once lampoon them as presidents with a small ‘P’?

Anyway…….as stated earlier on, we’d rather focus on the two elephants in the room, for good effect of course!

Readers will recall that once the floodgates of adoptions were finally unlocked, we witnessed an avalanche of characters of different hues and shades go on rampage jostling to be torch bearers for their respective political parties as MPs, Mayors/Chairpersons and/or councilors.

Whereas some incumbents seemed less interested to pass on the button, these new entrants were determined to elbow and push them aside. Why? They are eager to break the sealing and have a feel of the corridors of power……..most likely motivated by the good life these individuals we tend to refer to as ‘honourables’ seem to enjoy – who doesn’t fancy driving around an expensive SUV or drawing a good salary or enormous allowances, thanks to ever generous tax payers!

This year’s elections have already proven to be the costliest in the history of this nation! Candidates, whether contemplating defending their seats or aspiring have gone to town outspending each other! If they’re not availing a fleet of vehicles for the use of their constituents, they’re showering party officials with expensive gifts, making massive donations at funerals and in churches, dishing out food and buying our youth copious amounts of alcohol. One of them even had the gale to gift a priest a Mercedes Benz S class! Sometimes you’d even wonder whether the Anti-Corruption Commission has any teeth at all.

Now……why should our country allow individuals ‘force’ their way into leadership positions using underhand methods? Do these individuals mean well for the nation? Are you sure they are desperate to acquire these offices so as to serve?

No need to pretend, both PF and UPND are having sleepless nights finalizing their adoption lists because they’re sitting on a mountain of names of restless individuals eager to have a go at the loot! This is mainly happening in their strongholds where these individuals are alive to the reality that being endowed with an adoption is as good as one step across the finish line!

Moving forward, we’d like to appeal to parliament to enact laws to enable electorates vote for political parties of their choice as opposed to individuals. Once a political party has won a particular constituency for instance, they’d deploy a cadre with the necessary acumen and credentials to represent that particular region. This way, we’d see individuals cease regarding constituencies as their fiefdoms as the situation is at the moment. Most importantly, it would be easier for any given political party to recall a non-performing member.

If we aren’t mistaken, this is working perfectly well in South Africa. Let’s discuss folks………