Observations: Kabimba’s propagation for a single party nation should be stopped by all means possible.

Musamba Mumba

In recent times I have been closely observing one Wynter Kabimba on his statements and movements regarding the political party he represents the Patriotic Front (PF).

Kabimba who is the PF’s Secretary General has made statements that sometimes I wonder whether this man is for real or he is in a world of his own and he has been touring the country on party duties when he is Justice Minister. One would wonder whether we are back to the party and its government era.

The recent statement that was attributed to Kabimba declaring that Zambians want a one party state an idea or phenomena that was discarded more than 20 years ago. Even in the existence of it in the UNIP era it was not a welcome idea but imposed on the Zambian people against their wish.

We are certainly not in a crisis to demand for a single party neither is the PF very popular to demand for such.

In the first place Kabimba ought to know that the PF government was voted in by only 42 percent of the cast votes meaning 58 percent of the cast votes did not want PF a translation that the majority of Zambians did not vote PF but theirs was a simple majority over other contesting parties.

This means that any radical change that the PF government intends to do on the political landscape must first bear in mind of the majority of Zambians thoughts about it.

Zambia turned its back on a single party state in 1990 and Kabimba should have been old enough to know of the downside of a one party state.

Propagating this is so much out of tune with the realities of this world and shows that he Kabimba and those that are backing him for this ideology all mean no good for the country as they clearly cannot convince the electorate of the policies they intend to implement using democratic principles and channels of democracy.

They would rather shove their policies on people by force through a single party state as there will be no opposition to oppose the intended policies.

To give a balanced argument on the pros and cons of a one party state, I will highlight them below:

1. Those that propagate a single party state argue that it is easier to implement policies without the hustles of opposing views and hence governments would carry out developmental programmes quickly and with ease.
2. On the other hand those against it say that the single party state is a breeding ground for creating dictatorship governments and any dissenting view is regarded as anti government and people that have dissenting views are usually regarded as enemies of the state by the ruling party.
3. Differentiation between the party and the government is very thin and the governing party is usually funded from government coffers.
4. Government focuses on building the party other than national development.
5. As a result of the above resources are not prudently utilised for the benefit of the nation but for a few individuals that toil the party line.
6. Competition within party is created but those that do not want to toil the party line are not participatory in the many discourses of the nation resulting in a deficient participation as not all nationals are participative.
7. A single party state could bring about discontent in the nation and is a recipe for anarchy as not everyone will agree with the ruling or the only party in existence. People differ in perception and preference or ideologically so forcing them into believing what they do not want to be part of could cause resentment and this can be expressed in many ways and some could be violent.
8. People’s freedoms are curtailed if not in line with the government and the government deliberately removes certain freedoms so as to achieve their desired objectives. Some of the freedoms that could be restricted are those of movement, association, assembly, belonging to an organisation of choice and access to information, as is the case in China.
9. Single party nations breed cultism and the head of state is viewed as a god and people’s thoughts are skewed to believing that they cannot think beyond the realm of the governing party’s ideologies and policies. The nation is fixated to a certain way of life like it is in North Korea and thus become stunted in thought and belief.

It can be seen from the above that a single party nation should not be entertained at all cost by any well meaning politician or Zambian at large.

Zambia went through this stage and we did not benefit from it at all. The results are there to see and well documented that as a nation the worst time we had was during the single party era. Kabimba was a grown up person by then and he should know better the effects of such.

Economically, politically and socially we certainly did not benefit from the era of a single party state.

As for PF, many of its leaders fought against the one party state and the President Michael Sata and Vice President Guy Scot all joined the cause for multi-partyism and they should be condemning such thoughts. The PF government and party is as a result of the ideology of multi party democracy, it is therefore morally wrong for them to fathom such ideology and deny others the same way they came into existence and to govern.

Only the likes of Kabimba who is a nominated member of parliament can entertain such thoughts but his is an archived thought that should not be entertained by any other Zambian that wants to see the country develop through the free participation of every Zambian and other nationals in order to reduce all forms of inequalities in the country.

Today, we see Kabimba touring the country as a party secretary general consolidating the party other than performing his duties as justice minister. The nation is funding a justice minister who is busy touring the country on party duties we are certainly not in a Party and Its Government (PIG) era. These resources and efforts need to be channelled to needy areas.

Conclusion

As justice minister, Kabimba should be in the forefront in strengthening institutions that will help cement democracy and he should not harbour thoughts of a single party nation as his efforts will be futile and will end up in vain. Zambia is way past the single party era, Kabimba come back to earth and be real to you. Channel your energies to something that will be relevant to the nation other than pursuing lost causes and archived ideologies.