By CHARLES SIMENGWA
SOME important lessons that many Zambian voters have learnt in past elections have included those about how great some politicians can be, and how hideous others can also be by promising things they are not capable of delivering.
It is an undeniable fact that some people have over the years loathed political leaders who parade themselves with many promises they know they would not be able to fulfil if they were voted into office.
Zambia has for years continued to occupy a lofty position in Africa’s democratic governance by holding peaceful elections.
The country is also well-known for smooth handovers of political power, a trend largely unknown in other countries on the continent.
However, some civil society groups are seeking to go beyond this record by probing politicians’ sincerity during election campaigns.
Some political leaders have been known to only appear in constituencies as elections get closer, and they go on to leave a litany of promises they are ill-prepared to keep.
In most cases, voters in many constituencies only benefit from the distribution of campaign T-shirts and wrappers, commonly known as chitenges, as promises for improved living standards only remain on paper until another election comes.
Labour Institute of Zambia (LIZ) executive director Clement Kasonde says the citizens’ participation in shaping the economic and social policies of the country has remained limited.
Mr Kasonde, who is a law graduate from the University of Zambia and a lecturer in labour studies at Mulungushi University, says despite the country’s huge mineral wealth and immense potential in the agriculture and tourism sectors, poverty remains high, at over 60 per cent in urban areas and about 70 to 80 per cent in rural areas.
The question on many people’s minds is: why has the whole question of beneficiation from mineral wealth remained elusive to Zambia?
As the country heads to the general elections on August 11, this year, the search for economic and social policies that could deliver quality jobs and make a dent in poverty levels is high on the agenda of LIZ.
Mr Kasonde says it is worrying to note that job creation through the formation of value addition industries has not featured prominently on the campaign trail of some political contenders.
For this reason, to broaden the political space for citizens’ participation, LIZ, in collaboration with Mulungushi University, has decided to hold public fora which would create a platform on which the various political parties and aspiring parliamentary candidates could interact with the electorate in all the 10 provinces of the country.
The Labour Institute of Zambia is a professional Non-Governmental Organisation registered under the Societies Act. LIZ was formed in January 2013 and officially launched in June 2013.
LIZ membership is drawn from trade unionists, labour experts, lawyers, human resource practitioners, economists, and accountants, among others.
Membership is open to all workers, employers and civil society organisations, academicians and individuals with interest in the labour market.
The public fora are planned for May up to August, 2016.
Mr Kasonde said in an interview that LIZ would be the implementing partners for the project.
LIZ has entered into a cooperation agreement with other organisations, chiefly Mulungushi University, to mobilise funds for the project.
LIZ will submit narrative and financial reports to the funding organisation after implementing each activity and provide an end-of-project evaluation report.
The funding organisation will be free to participate, advise and monitor the project implementation process.
“LIZ will conduct public fora in the provincial centres featuring aspiring parliamentary candidates and leaders of various political parties.
“To ensure maximum public attendance, the public fora will be advertised in advance in the Press and by public address system using ZANIS in the various provincial capitals.
“LIZ will provide expertise to organise, facilitate, moderate, develop the themes for the fora and report on the outcomes of the public fora,” Mr Kasonde said.
The direct beneficiaries of the project would be the electorate in the respective provinces where the public fora would be held, aspiring parliamentary candidates who would feature on these fora, and the various political parties contesting in this year’s general elections.
Mr Kasonde said the project would contribute to strengthening the citizens’ voice in shaping the economic and social policies of the country.
The immediate objectives of the public fora would be to afford the electorate an opportunity to interact with the various political contenders so that they are well informed about the socio-economic policies of each political party.
The electorate would have an opportunity to listen to alternative economic solutions to the country’s dependency on copper mining, strategies for job creation to reap a demographic dividend from Zambia’s youthful population, and strategies aimed at meeting the energy needs of a growing economy such as Zambia’s.
Among the key outputs would be the increased public awareness on economic, social and political issues, enlightened electorate about the quality, vision and calibre of candidates aspiring for public office, and building synergies from the different manifestos of the various political parties.
“The question of development is not only about following a predetermined script. Achieving development is a collective building effort based on community values, the capacity to generate wealth and articulate a dialogue that relies on the hegemonic acceptance by the actors who work there.
“As the Institute for Applied Economic Research holds, it does not depend on anything else other than the capacity of human ingenuity to adapt to the values that seek to give meaning to existence,” Mr Kasonde said.
As Mr Kasonde puts it, the public fora would be important platforms through which the Zambian voters would be assisted to make informed decisions in the August elections about their individual choices and the leaders they want to usher into political office to shape the Zambian people’s lives.