Zambians went to the polls on the 30th of October to elect a successor to the late Levy Mwanawasa. After a hard fought campaign, the race to plot 1 was won by Rupiah Banda (RB) having secured 40% of the votes. His closest rival was Michael Sata with 38% of the votes. Many analysts have commended the efforts made by the Electoral Commission of Zambia and Justice Florence Mumba in particular to ensure that the polls were free and fair.
As the MMD wallow in their victory it is important to reflect on how RB became the accidental President and thereby exposed weaknesses in both the Republican and MMD constitutions. It is very clear to all (unless you are Ben Tetamashimba) that RB was not the MMD’s preferred candidate to succeed Levy. He was put forward by the MMD because he offered them the best option of winning the bye-election. Soon after the death of Levy, the big wigs in the MMD realised that the party had no funds to mount an effective campaign against the popular Michael Sata. You may recall that the MMD Chairman made an announcement in July that the party had no funds to hold an NEC meeting to discuss the party’s response to Mwanawasa’s illness. It is therefore safe to assume that a party that had no funds to hold a meeting lasting a couple of hours simply had no capacity to mount a national wide campaign. After banging a few heads together to find a way of maintaining power at all cost, the MMD realised that the republican constitution offered them a lifeline. One of the clauses of the constitution permits the incumbent president and Vice president to use public funds in presidential elections. Bingo! The MMD finally had a means to an end. Get RB to run for the presidency and use public funds for the campaign.
Armed with an unlimited supply of state machinery and image builders, there was only going to be one winner in the election. The only surprise was small margin of the MMD victory (2%) despite having given 10 bales of Chitenge material and K30 Million to each constituency (K30M X 150 = K4.5 Billion). This is according to Ben Tetamashimba and does not include the cost of chartering helicopters and hiring image builders!
It is also worth mentioning RB won the election despite having lost in the urban parts of the country (Lusaka, parts of central and the Copperbelt). In the end the election was decided by areas like Lukulu East. A remote constituency that took three days to count 7000 votes!
There is no doubt that the National Constitution Conference (NCC) needs to look some of the clauses that were found wanting in the current constitution carefully and improve them.
(a) Incapacitation of a sitting president
The current provisions simply do not work. Due to the politics of poverty currently prevailing in the country, it is highly unlikely that a cabinet will convene a medical board to examine a bed ridden president for fear of recrimination. Would it not be more practical for the constitution to explicitly state that the President will be declared incapacitated if he is unable to perform his function for 30 days (for example)? In this case the VP automatically assumes the functions of the President. The elected President will then be allowed to resume office if he makes a full recovery in a stipulated time period (eg. 90 days). If after 90 days the President is still unable to perform his duties, a vacancy should be declared and an election called with immediately.
(b) Use of public funds by the President and VP in campaigns
The spirit in which this clause was inserted into the constitution has been thoroughly abused by the MMD in their quest to form a de facto one party state in Zambia. I am sure this clause was meant to ensure that the President and his VP were accorded the same security and other logistics that went with the office during the campaign period of. This surely does not include hiring image builders and the use of govt resources to shuttle the campaign team from one constituency to another. May I suggest that in the new constitution, this clause should be qualified and with some limits set in stone? It should not be used to bankroll future MMD campaigns. If this clause is not checked, it will be impossible to remove the MMD from power in our generation!
The MMD as a party also needs to examine provisions of their constitution. The reason they found themselves in a mess is that they allowed Levy Mwanawasa to effectively abolish the post of Party Vice President. It seems the party has a habit to singing to the tune of the Republican President (politics of poverty at work once again). This is the same party that was convinced by one FTJ that he should be allowed to go for a third term and to decouple the party presidency and candidature in presidential elections. The MMD needs to go back to the democratic values on which the party was founded. I remember the hope and belief that swept the country in 1991 and propelled the MMD to power. All that is lost because it seems we replaced the UNIP PIG (party and its government) with the MMD PIG. I urge MMD members to stand up and be counted. The hour has come to rid the party of career politicians and elements promoting politics of poverty. It is unbelievable that RB who was a diehard UNIP card carrying member has been embraced as an MMD member. I just hope this marriage of convenience will not end in tears.
This election also exposed a clear lack of election strategy among the opposition. PF and UPND secured a combined total of 58% of the votes cast. The voting patterns revealed that PF and UPND could only win future elections if they joined hands. UPND is only popular in Southern Province while PF has its strongholds in Lusaka and Copperbelt but also enjoys credible support in Northern and Luapula. The two parties need to start talking about a 2011 pact now and formulate a common strategy. PF should also start planning their future and existence with the assumption that Sat may not be in a position to contest the next election due to his age and failing health.
When all is said and done, I wish RB all the best as he tries to rebuild the Country. His predecessor pleasantly surprised a lot of his critics in the way he tried to improve the lives of our people. We all live in hope that RB will exceed our expectations.
The PANEL
As the MMD wallow in their victory it is important to reflect on how RB became the accidental President and thereby exposed weaknesses in both the Republican and MMD constitutions. It is very clear to all (unless you are Ben Tetamashimba) that RB was not the MMD’s preferred candidate to succeed Levy. He was put forward by the MMD because he offered them the best option of winning the bye-election. Soon after the death of Levy, the big wigs in the MMD realised that the party had no funds to mount an effective campaign against the popular Michael Sata. You may recall that the MMD Chairman made an announcement in July that the party had no funds to hold an NEC meeting to discuss the party’s response to Mwanawasa’s illness. It is therefore safe to assume that a party that had no funds to hold a meeting lasting a couple of hours simply had no capacity to mount a national wide campaign. After banging a few heads together to find a way of maintaining power at all cost, the MMD realised that the republican constitution offered them a lifeline. One of the clauses of the constitution permits the incumbent president and Vice president to use public funds in presidential elections. Bingo! The MMD finally had a means to an end. Get RB to run for the presidency and use public funds for the campaign.
Armed with an unlimited supply of state machinery and image builders, there was only going to be one winner in the election. The only surprise was small margin of the MMD victory (2%) despite having given 10 bales of Chitenge material and K30 Million to each constituency (K30M X 150 = K4.5 Billion). This is according to Ben Tetamashimba and does not include the cost of chartering helicopters and hiring image builders!
It is also worth mentioning RB won the election despite having lost in the urban parts of the country (Lusaka, parts of central and the Copperbelt). In the end the election was decided by areas like Lukulu East. A remote constituency that took three days to count 7000 votes!
There is no doubt that the National Constitution Conference (NCC) needs to look some of the clauses that were found wanting in the current constitution carefully and improve them.
(a) Incapacitation of a sitting president
The current provisions simply do not work. Due to the politics of poverty currently prevailing in the country, it is highly unlikely that a cabinet will convene a medical board to examine a bed ridden president for fear of recrimination. Would it not be more practical for the constitution to explicitly state that the President will be declared incapacitated if he is unable to perform his function for 30 days (for example)? In this case the VP automatically assumes the functions of the President. The elected President will then be allowed to resume office if he makes a full recovery in a stipulated time period (eg. 90 days). If after 90 days the President is still unable to perform his duties, a vacancy should be declared and an election called with immediately.
(b) Use of public funds by the President and VP in campaigns
The spirit in which this clause was inserted into the constitution has been thoroughly abused by the MMD in their quest to form a de facto one party state in Zambia. I am sure this clause was meant to ensure that the President and his VP were accorded the same security and other logistics that went with the office during the campaign period of. This surely does not include hiring image builders and the use of govt resources to shuttle the campaign team from one constituency to another. May I suggest that in the new constitution, this clause should be qualified and with some limits set in stone? It should not be used to bankroll future MMD campaigns. If this clause is not checked, it will be impossible to remove the MMD from power in our generation!
The MMD as a party also needs to examine provisions of their constitution. The reason they found themselves in a mess is that they allowed Levy Mwanawasa to effectively abolish the post of Party Vice President. It seems the party has a habit to singing to the tune of the Republican President (politics of poverty at work once again). This is the same party that was convinced by one FTJ that he should be allowed to go for a third term and to decouple the party presidency and candidature in presidential elections. The MMD needs to go back to the democratic values on which the party was founded. I remember the hope and belief that swept the country in 1991 and propelled the MMD to power. All that is lost because it seems we replaced the UNIP PIG (party and its government) with the MMD PIG. I urge MMD members to stand up and be counted. The hour has come to rid the party of career politicians and elements promoting politics of poverty. It is unbelievable that RB who was a diehard UNIP card carrying member has been embraced as an MMD member. I just hope this marriage of convenience will not end in tears.
This election also exposed a clear lack of election strategy among the opposition. PF and UPND secured a combined total of 58% of the votes cast. The voting patterns revealed that PF and UPND could only win future elections if they joined hands. UPND is only popular in Southern Province while PF has its strongholds in Lusaka and Copperbelt but also enjoys credible support in Northern and Luapula. The two parties need to start talking about a 2011 pact now and formulate a common strategy. PF should also start planning their future and existence with the assumption that Sat may not be in a position to contest the next election due to his age and failing health.
When all is said and done, I wish RB all the best as he tries to rebuild the Country. His predecessor pleasantly surprised a lot of his critics in the way he tried to improve the lives of our people. We all live in hope that RB will exceed our expectations.
The PANEL
