By Isaac Zulu
PNUP leader Highvie Hamududu says it’s out of greediness that people want to be ministers and members of parliament at the same time, saying ministers must be appointed from outside Parliament.
Speaking in an interview, Hamududu explained that the Patriot Front administration introduced some progressive Articles in the Republican Constitution such as the 50 per cent plus one vote threshold for a winning Presidential candidate, the Presidential running mate and the introduction of a prescribed date for a general election, but there is still some unfinished business; hence the need to embark on Constitutional reforms.
“And they should pride themselves for that. But there is still some unfinished business. For example, people want Cabinet to be appointed outside Parliament. From the Mvunga and the Mwanakatwe Constitutional reviews this thing has been running through. The Zambian people have spoken out on this issue. They have been emphatic on this issue,” Hamududu explained. “And our colleagues who are in government now should deliver on that or else, they will have to answer during the next general election. You can’t develop with this kind of system where Parliament is diluted with the Executive. There must be a distinction between the Executive and Parliament in a Constitutional democracy so that backbenchers can effectively provide checks and balances, providing an oversight role. They should hold those holding power to account.”
Hamududu stressed that the the appointment of Cabinet outside Parliament is a non controversial issue, as it has already been settled by the Zambian people.
“It’s just that out of greediness people want to be ministers and MPs at the same time. We can address this issue within a year and midway five years the President can appoint ministers outside Parliament. We need to have the independence of the Legislature from the Executive,” Hamududu said. “Our democracy is not functioning because of Constitutional deformities. Therefore we need to embark on Constitutional reforms, as a country, because we have unfinished business.”
He said there is also need to do away with parliamentary by-elections, which he said are costly.
“We also need to avoid the cancellation of an election in an event that one of the Presidential candidate dies then an election is postponed. It’s costly on public resources and it is wasteful. You can have a provision to replace the candidate than postponing the election,” Hamududu said. “The other issue is to do with unnecessary parliamentary by-elections where an MP resigns from a political party. We cannot continue spending huge sums of money on one MP which can be channeled towards the construction of a secondary school. Those are some of the grey areas that must be cleaned.”
Hamududu further called for the reduction of the campaign period during the general elections.
“We also need to reduce the campaign period from three months to less than two months. In 2006 when we went in an election, we only campaigned for 45 days,” said Hamududu, who also served as Bwengwa member of parliament. “You cannot be campaigning for a quarter of the year. You are damaging the economy! It is not good for business, political parties and so on. An African economy like that of Zambia cannot be subjected to a campaign of three months.”
And Hamududu said that the PNUP will always engage in issue based politics anchored on policy leadership.
“I am sure you have been following the way our only MP we have in Parliament has been contributing to Parliamentary debates. He is standing tall and if you compare him to those that have been there longer, you will realise that he is above average. PNUP and Hamududu will always engage in issue based politics. What we stand for, what we advocate for will tell you that we are focused and issue based. Even you, if you are normal and go to vote, but you don’t vote for me, then you are not normal. Vote for me for what I stand for and not how I am dishing out money. You want me to be dealing in drugs so that I can have more money for mobilisation and be dishing out to voters,” said Hamududu. “We want to give policy direction on governance issues. Ours is policy leadership and giving institutions the Constitutional framework to perform.”
