By Daily Revelation Editor
Political party funding needs to be carefully looked at because if we are not careful, it can lead to state capture, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) executive director Maurice Nyambe has said.
Speaking during the signing ceremony for Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between TIZ and Zambia Center for Inter Party Dialogue (ZCID) at Kapingila House, Nyambe said if care was not taken to know the source of funds for political parties, the country risked attracting illicit funds which may lead to state capture.
“In Zambia, political parties’ financing has continued to be a topical issue due to various reasons such as a lack of a regulatory framework to regulate it. But also the apparent black curtain covering sources of financing for political parties activities,” Nyambe said. “One of the major concerns of the prevailing situation is that it has the potential to result in the flow of illicit finances, alienation and dominance of political parties by the rich and corrupt, since political players would use every means possible to seek political office. In addition to domination of political activities by the rich can pave the way for these illicit funds to get to political parties which may lead to political party capture and ultimately state capture by the financials of those very political parties.”
Nyambe is right on point. This is the one problem that has largely contributed towards this country lagging behind. Successive administrations have come and gone but generations of Zambians have seen the parties they have voted into office operating in the same manner their predecessors Zambians just voted out behaved, especially when it comes to dealings with the special interests. No major political party right now can deny that they are not receiving certain funding from some special interests in the hopes of receiving favours once the party they sponsored gets into office.
Zambians have for many years demanded that a law be introduced that will regulate party funding in the country, but nothing will change because successive politicians in government have self-appointed themselves to give the Zambian people constitutions and because they are the main beneficiaries of unregulated political party funding they will ensure the status quo remains. Today we are talking about some mining companies with a known record of failure in this country having been given back the right to run the same mines they failed to run because they funded some political party to win office.
Who knows if the tax incentives and holidays we see allocated to the mining companies is on account of the funding they did in the past and as a result they are being repaid in kind. Meanwhile, the Zambian people who are supposed to see the rewards of their vote and resources continue wallowing in poverty just because some politician or political party has received some payment in kind? It’s just this unending cycle that just carries on unimpeded.
But again, because of the narrowness and vindictiveness of our politics, there are genuine fears that if a law were introduced today in this uncivilised political environment, many genuine funders will fail to fund opposition political parties on account of losing out on business from the government. It is a double edged sword where the country does not want to fall prey to state capture from special interests but will also want to protect funding especially for the opposition political parties. Ultimately the country needs a law that would ensure there is disclosure for political party funding while providing necessary protections for would-be financiers to contribute towards their preferred political parties of their choice.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
Political party funding needs to be carefully looked at because if we are not careful, it can lead to state capture, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) executive director Maurice Nyambe has said.
Speaking during the signing ceremony for Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between TIZ and Zambia Center for Inter Party Dialogue (ZCID) at Kapingila House, Nyambe said if care was not taken to know the source of funds for political parties, the country risked attracting illicit funds which may lead to state capture.
“In Zambia, political parties’ financing has continued to be a topical issue due to various reasons such as a lack of a regulatory framework to regulate it. But also the apparent black curtain covering sources of financing for political parties activities,” Nyambe said. “One of the major concerns of the prevailing situation is that it has the potential to result in the flow of illicit finances, alienation and dominance of political parties by the rich and corrupt, since political players would use every means possible to seek political office. In addition to domination of political activities by the rich can pave the way for these illicit funds to get to political parties which may lead to political party capture and ultimately state capture by the financials of those very political parties.”
Nyambe is right on point. This is the one problem that has largely contributed towards this country lagging behind. Successive administrations have come and gone but generations of Zambians have seen the parties they have voted into office operating in the same manner their predecessors Zambians just voted out behaved, especially when it comes to dealings with the special interests. No major political party right now can deny that they are not receiving certain funding from some special interests in the hopes of receiving favours once the party they sponsored gets into office.
Zambians have for many years demanded that a law be introduced that will regulate party funding in the country, but nothing will change because successive politicians in government have self-appointed themselves to give the Zambian people constitutions and because they are the main beneficiaries of unregulated political party funding they will ensure the status quo remains. Today we are talking about some mining companies with a known record of failure in this country having been given back the right to run the same mines they failed to run because they funded some political party to win office.
Who knows if the tax incentives and holidays we see allocated to the mining companies is on account of the funding they did in the past and as a result they are being repaid in kind. Meanwhile, the Zambian people who are supposed to see the rewards of their vote and resources continue wallowing in poverty just because some politician or political party has received some payment in kind? It’s just this unending cycle that just carries on unimpeded.
But again, because of the narrowness and vindictiveness of our politics, there are genuine fears that if a law were introduced today in this uncivilised political environment, many genuine funders will fail to fund opposition political parties on account of losing out on business from the government. It is a double edged sword where the country does not want to fall prey to state capture from special interests but will also want to protect funding especially for the opposition political parties. Ultimately the country needs a law that would ensure there is disclosure for political party funding while providing necessary protections for would-be financiers to contribute towards their preferred political parties of their choice.
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