Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The alleged distortion of the boundary between national duties and political party activities in Zambia has been attributed to the self preservative tendency of political parties.
US based Zambian Academician Henry Kyambalesa has observed that since the country got its independence in 1964, government leaders have tended to be preoccupied with serving the interests of their political parties at the expense of pressing national issues.
Mr. Kyambalesa who is also an author has told Qfm News in a statement that he thinks that such a situation has been fostered by a political system that allows individuals to hold government and political-party positions concurrently.
He notes this distortion in the boundary between national duties and political-party activities, is what has also culminated into what is commonly referred to as “The Party and Its Government” phenomenon.
Mr. Kyambalesa also believes that this “The Party and Its Government” phenomenon is partly to blame for the violence being perpetrated by cadres in political parties that assume the reins of power against citizens who dare to criticize government leaders.
He has explained that this happens partly because the cadres conceive of government leaders firstly as being political-party leaders and, secondly, as being government leaders.
US based Zambian Academician has however advised that for the fact that government leaders are individually and collectively accountable to the citizenry, they are also subject to criticism for perceived mediocrity in discharging their duties.
He has suggested that there is need for Zambia to pick a leaf from countries like the United States of America, where members of the President’s cabinet or their deputies are never be seen to be directly involved in campaigning for the President or for anyone vying for a seat in any of the two chambers of the country’s Congress that of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Mr. Kyambalesa is of the view that that this entails that political parties that assume the reins of power in the country t need to delink their operations from the operations of the national government.
He says this can, for example, be achieved by means of a constitutional proviso that would bar all elected and appointed government leaders from actively performing political-party functions by allow functions t be performed by their deputies or any other capable individuals, in acting capacity during the period of time they are in the service of the national government.