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Ever since the pronouncement about the political party funding bill was made, I have heard very little perhaps nothing about its details on the public forum from any stakeholder.
The hyped up political environment has dwarfed yet one of the most important public topics that everyone should have been talking about because if it goes through, then our taxes “kwachas” will be directly lining the pockets of our political parties irrespective of whether you share their ideas or not.
There are many legal ways through which political parties raise funds for their operations. The most known are through subscription fees from members, individual donations from sympathisers, corporate donations from companies and sometimes it may not be money but by exchange of intellectual property for political advantage.
We have had these in Zambia for a long time. Public financing is one of the ways in which government through direct or indirect means gives tax payer money to political parties for campaign purposes.
This is done in developed countries with the view of increasing transparency in political party financing. Iam not sure if this is the view as well for our country’s political setup or the timing for this issue to be brought up is right/ not, considering how long our priority list is in terms of developing this country.
However, if this bill is to go through I expect it to cover most of these expectations and I also hope that CSOs and NGOs will rise up and champion the following;
a) The bill must state whether the funding will be direct or indirect and whether the funding will be annually or terms (will govt provide campaign materials for all parties or not?)
b) The bill must compel all political parties receiving public funding to publicly avail their other sources of funding and their books for public scrutiny by the auditor general with financial reports publicised.
c) The bill must clearly state who is eligible and not. Will this fund be availed to parties whose tenets are not in tandem with the laws, values and cultures of our country? I personally would not love to have my tax kwachas given to a party with extreme or segregative political ideologies
d) The bill must explicitly state if the moneys will be levelled across the board or it will be according the number of representation. The playing field must be levelled.
e) The bill should clearly state who shall oversee the funds. Preferably not government but an independent CSO or NGO protected from the executive by an act of parliament. There must be fairness.
f) The bill must clearly compel political parties with fixed percentage ratios of gender to youth and madalaz representation on all candidates running for public office.
g) The bill must clearly give law enforcement agencies power to prosecute without favour any party and its signatories who fail to account for their funds.
h) The bill must subject all political parties to binding social contracts in line with their manifestos so as to bring sanity to the political spectrum. We don’t want liars
i) The bill must clearly give power to the oversight to withhold, deny or revoke public finance to any party found guilty of violence and electoral malpractice. We are tired of unruly cadres
j) The bill must demand all political parties to restructure their systems. The president of a party must not be a demi –god, he/ she must be adopted via a convention no more ama backdoor committee adoptions. The powers to appoint and fire who and who must lie in the hands of the central committees
k) The bill must be compulsory all parties must abide and respect all the terms of reference in the bill.
l) The bill must be an act of the constitution.
m) Is this fund going to be available to foreign parties that share our values and beliefs as a country(foreign policy)
We can go on and on listing the things that are required but for me these are the major ones that need the utmost attention and I know such ideas will cause discomfort to political party loyalists but if the government intends to score a mark and change the course of the next 100yrs of Zambia’s political history, then this is the way to go. I have always had a strong conviction that the most beneficial decisions in a man’s life are the most painful ones he makes and strives to achieve.
Public political financing is a good idea for our country if harnessed well; it could change the way our politics is done and as well as set a fine tone for the next generation of politicians (us). However, to the intellects I could pose a number of questions or concerns that comes with this issue.
a) How do we make this work without turning political parties into another arm of govt since they will be funded?
b) How do we make this work without disadvantaging growing parties or upcoming political ambitions by providing a broad way to already existing parties?
c) How do we make this work without offending the non political stratum that feel public finance must never be used to feed political interests?
d) How do we make this work without risking stratifying party supporters in accordance of their financial power (highest bidder takes all)?
e) How do we make this work when most of the administrative powers in our political parties lie in the hands of a president who literary hand picks candidates in all the strategic positions of power?
f) Considering our budget constraints as a country, with so many things that we need to be self funding by now, is this issue really a priority now?
g) How do we make this work without creating an establishment of political elites that will forever hold the presidency at ransom because of their money
Lastly, for me the question is not whether this bill goes through or not but it is whether our crop of politicians from both isles are well deserving of this sacred piece of legislation. If the means to arriving to the answer of this riddle comes with a lot of uncertainties, then perhaps the final decision of having this bright idea be turned into legislation should not be entrusted to politically compromised men like parliamentarians. Instead let the voter and the tax payer be given the due respect to preside over the matter by the vote of a referendum i.e. after awareness, concerns and submissions are exhausted.
The post Citizen’s View: Let’s Take An Interest In The Political Party Bill appeared first on Zambia Reports.
President Edgar Lungu has received kudos for prevailing over the 7000 UNZA students that could have missed out of writing examinations this month.
