Constitutional Reform – An Electoral Perspective

Why are we having this election? Think about it. No, your first answer is wrong. It is not because Levy Mwanawasa died.

It is because our constitution does not allow for a Vice-President to take over and complete the term in office. In Zambia Vice-President’s are chosen after Election Day, so have no electoral mandate themselves. This is exactly why we are now holding this by-election; Rupiah Banda needs a mandate from the people to govern. This Constitutional deficiency has given people like Sata and HH another chance at getting elected – for them this loophole in the Constitution is a gift.

In America the Republicans have John McCain and Sarah Palin on their ‘ticket’. The Democrat’s ‘ticket’ is Barak Obama and Joe Biden. When JFK was assassinated in Dallas Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as President on the plane back to Washington. So within hours America had a new President. Government continued and although the American nation was in mourning it was not in crisis. When Richard Nixon was forced to resign over the Watergate scandal Vice-President Gerald Ford took over with immediate effect.

Had our constitution allowed for Rupiah Banda to be sworn in as President the Zambia would be in the same situation. We would not have to be spending billions of Kwacha on printing ballot papers and other paraphernalia required to hold an election. So when this is all over can we please get back to reviewing the Constitution. Can we please change the law so that a Vice-Presidential candidate is known before polling day? Let that person also have an electoral mandate to run the country in the event of the untimely demise of the President.

Choosing a suitable running mate will tell the people a lot about the Presidential wannabee. We would be able to compare the ‘tickets’ of the parties involved and we would know exactly how genuine they are about the political agendas. Mind you it is worth remembering that Sata tried to change the Constitution in favour of a Chiluba third term – perish the thought. Had he succeeded we would not have this Constitutional crisis; we would be living in a dictatorship.

BREAKING NEWS: Why Is the Post Being So Vicious?

BREAKING NEWS:

Over the last month a shift has taken place at the Zambian Post, it coincided with Zambian officials announcing the need for a by-election to select a President to stand for the remainder of the term left open by the recent death of HE Levy Mwanawasa. The Post, a long time supporter of the late President has switched sides. They chose not to endorse the Acting President, Rupiah Banda; rather they threw their support behind the challenger Michael Sata.

This shift seems even stranger when you consider the fact that for many years the Post has vehemently and consistently attacked Michael Sata for being a charlatan, a crook and a thief. The reason for this sudden reversal was the fact that Post has financial problems. Zambian Airways is owned by The Post (30%), along with a subsidiary of Seaboard (National Milling Corporation) (12.5%) and JCN Holdings (57.5%).

Their relations are even closer than they seem, as inquiries discovered that the chairman of National Milling is also the chairman of Zambian Airways and furthermore sits on the board of the Post. Zambian Airways are in serious financial trouble - this is no secret. They are in arrears to the Airport Corporation at a rate of about $225,000 US a month. The extent of their financial difficulty was demonstrated recently when Zambian Airways had to announce they needed to cut back their flights, suspending their Lusaka to Mfuwe service.

The Post initially supported the MMD, but expected the Finance Minister, Peter Ng’andu Magande to win the nomination. Magande had been sympathetic to a bailout plan for the doomed airline. However, when Rupiah Banda secured the MMD nomination, the Post’s position did a complete about turn and they began their unprecedented and mainly unfounded attacks. This was because Rupiah Banda has supported the position proposed by Transport Minister Dora Siliya, proposing a business based solution rather than a government bailout.

It is rumored that a deal has been struck with the opposition candidate and the Zambian Airways Group. In return for this deal to bail them out after the election, the Post has jettisoned all sense of fair journalist practice and started an unmitigated smear campaign against the Acting President Rupiah Banda. Banda has filed for and has been granted an injunction against the Post, but this has had little effect in curbing the newspaper from continuing their unethical campaign to defame and discredit his character.

An unknown in this ongoing and incestuous saga, is the position of the American conglomerate Seaboard. Are they complicit in their shareholders, Zambian Airways and the Post’s attempts to manipulate the outcome in the upcoming presidential election? Until now, Seaboard has been conspicuously silent on the issue. Their Corporate Social Responsibility should, one would think, implore them to make their position on this issue clear.

If a situation like this arose in the current presidential election campaign in the United States, would Seaboard sit by and be as mute on the subject as they are here, in Zambia?

Where was Mr. Sata Hiding?

A memorial service to celebrate the life of HE Levy Mwanawasa was held in central Lusaka this last Sunday, and there was one very conspicuous individual who failed to attend.

The absence was not conspicuous just because this was a national event and the absentee is standing as a candidate in the upcoming by-election that will serve to select the successor of the recently passed President.

The non-appearance of Mr. Sata was so blatant because it was clearly a personal snub of the man who only recently saved Mr. Sata’s life!

While Mr. Sata was lying in hospital in Lusaka after suffering a massive heart attack in April of this year, who was it that arranged for the acerbic politician to be airlifted to South Africa to receive cardiac care?

The recently deceased President, that’s who!

Is this how the man that wants to be the next President of Zambia pays his respect? The memorial was not a political event, it was a country bidding farewell to a beloved President.

The memorial was supposed to be a time when political leaders put their partisanship aside and be just leaders; leading the people in mourning.

If Sata were to become President of Zambia, would he not show up at a SADC meeting or an AU summit because there were going to be people there that didn’t like him?

Would he avoid addressing the UN in New York, because the Chinese are on the Security Council?

Leadership is not a popularity contest; one must be able to lead those that are supporters and non-supporters alike.

Think carefully Zambia, before you vote!