Don’t kill democracy, Shamenda advises HH

By NATION REPORTER

FACKSON Shamenda has pleaded with President Hakainde Hichilema to embrace political competition and resist the temptation of shutting down divergent views for doing so would most likely kill democracy and that Zambians shall have to remember him as the father of the death of democracy.
Mr Shamenda, the former Minister of Labour said in an interview that Zambia was losing its democracy because attempts to make the country a one-party state had been heightened under the UPND government, stating that democracy should be allowed to grow under modern dispensation.
Mr Shamenda said the UPND had been competing against itself by ensuring real opposition political parties were prevented from participating in the electoral process and claiming popularity.
“Politics is like a sport, like football. You can tell how good you are by competing. What is worrying me is that UPND is competing alone, against itself and claiming popularity. It is working alone. Michael (Sata) wanted a strong opposition because that is the only way you in power can perform better,” Mr Shamenda said.
He said Zambians were expecting the UPND to be as democratic as they had pontificated while in the opposition but it had turned out to be more autocratic and completely failed to embrace democracy.
He said for a country to develop, it did not need a very good leader but a very good team because looking at individuals was never the best as it created a person who could be worshiped and glorified.
Mr Shamenda said it was the reason President Hichilema could confess that people in Lusaka lied to him because most of those close to him were scared to tell him the truth about the reality on the ground.
“President Hichilema should encourage competitive politics. MMD worked as a team and they achieved a lot. In fact, even those who did not compete for the MMD presidency were presidential material but they chose to be part of the team in a different capacity,” he said.
Mr Shamenda said he joined politics because of Mr Sata but at no time did he ever worship him.
He said a good general was as good as his army, warning that President Hichilema should be alert to the fact that there were some of the people in his inner circle that could be misleading him about his true popularity on the ground.
And Mr Shamenda said the politicisation of the civil service had led to the poor performance of the UPND government because most of the people who had been given jobs in the civil service were political cadres.
Mr Shamenda said it was perhaps time that the title of a Permanent Secretary was changed because many of them were mere political cadres or sympathisers instead of being seasoned civil servants who rose through the ranks.
He encouraged young people to assert their participation in politics because many old ones had resigned to doing politics as a job instead of a service.