By Daily Revelation Editor
A Welsh lawmaker is trying to make it illegal for politicians to lie, arguing that criminalising lying for politicians is the best way to restore trust in politics.
Through the legislation parliamentarian Adam Price has brought forward in the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, it would become criminalised for a politician to knowingly deceive the public, with the proposal further suggesting disqualification from sitting in the Senedd, or running for office entirely.
The move cannot be said to be confined to the fringes as it has been sent to the standards conduct committee for review for consideration, with four parties in the Senedd having come out in favour of the proposal, raising expectations from Price that it will be voted on within the next couple of months, according to CBC news.
It cannot be denied that it has become characteristic for politicians to lie with a straight face, and then turn around 360 degrees on those promises once they have comfortably gotten the votes they required to get into office. The same politicians usually become defensive and angry at the same time, when the people begin to remind them of their unfulfilled promises or lies. Unfortunately, they are aided in part by their supporters who have made it a habit to insult the people who call their leaders to account for the fake promises they made. Generally, people have lost faith in the politics altogether, as even the few honest politicians and the others who may wish to join in are bundled together in the same category of liars.
However, we have allowed a system where despite the lack of trust in the politicians, these are still the people we have allowed to hold the reins of power and will continue presiding over us, unless something drastic were to happen to change the structure of governance, something that seems unlikely right now. Because of this system, instead of politicians mastering the art of fulfilling their promises, they seem more inclined towards mastering lying and seeking out ways to survive in their positions of power. In most cases those who structure their lies perfectly are the ones who end up massing the popular appeal and emerge victorious in elections.
Therefore, the action Price is taking with the support of others in Wales, is surely worth emulating even here in our Zambian context where politicians seem to have established their success upon lying and dishonesty.
We are right now in the midst of a contentious constitutional amendment process which was birthed out of lies, that suddenly there was some agreement somewhere with the youths and women to amend the constitution. The same President Hakainde Hichilema who promised to deliver a people driven constitution seems to have clearly forgotten his own words as he is now trying to impose a constitution that seeks to increase substantially the number of members of parliament so that he can secure himself in power, even when Zambians try to hold him accountable over some of the false or unfulfilled promises he made.
His administration has announced the delimitation of constituencies in the constitutional amendment bill, without specifying where the same constituencies are. In his ill-advised view, he thinks he’s all knowing where his administration can treat Zambians like little children by keeping all this information to themselves, and only give it to Zambians later when they feel like. What is he hiding? Usually, people have a tendency of hiding things which are not honest, which are born out of dishonest scheming. If your own administration has announced that its pursuing a contractionary fiscal policy, and while you are everyday boasting that you are restructuring debt, why should you at the same time come up with undertakings that will strain your treasury further through increased members of parliament?
What is happening now raises the urgency of restoring honesty to leadership. We can’t continue on the same path where politicians lie for a living, where they change like chameleons the moment they are elected into office. And the restoration of honesty should not only be aimed at the politicians in this administration, but all the politicians, including those in the opposition as they seem to be affected by the same virus to some varying degree.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
A Welsh lawmaker is trying to make it illegal for politicians to lie, arguing that criminalising lying for politicians is the best way to restore trust in politics.
Through the legislation parliamentarian Adam Price has brought forward in the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, it would become criminalised for a politician to knowingly deceive the public, with the proposal further suggesting disqualification from sitting in the Senedd, or running for office entirely.
The move cannot be said to be confined to the fringes as it has been sent to the standards conduct committee for review for consideration, with four parties in the Senedd having come out in favour of the proposal, raising expectations from Price that it will be voted on within the next couple of months, according to CBC news.
It cannot be denied that it has become characteristic for politicians to lie with a straight face, and then turn around 360 degrees on those promises once they have comfortably gotten the votes they required to get into office. The same politicians usually become defensive and angry at the same time, when the people begin to remind them of their unfulfilled promises or lies. Unfortunately, they are aided in part by their supporters who have made it a habit to insult the people who call their leaders to account for the fake promises they made. Generally, people have lost faith in the politics altogether, as even the few honest politicians and the others who may wish to join in are bundled together in the same category of liars.
However, we have allowed a system where despite the lack of trust in the politicians, these are still the people we have allowed to hold the reins of power and will continue presiding over us, unless something drastic were to happen to change the structure of governance, something that seems unlikely right now. Because of this system, instead of politicians mastering the art of fulfilling their promises, they seem more inclined towards mastering lying and seeking out ways to survive in their positions of power. In most cases those who structure their lies perfectly are the ones who end up massing the popular appeal and emerge victorious in elections.
Therefore, the action Price is taking with the support of others in Wales, is surely worth emulating even here in our Zambian context where politicians seem to have established their success upon lying and dishonesty.
We are right now in the midst of a contentious constitutional amendment process which was birthed out of lies, that suddenly there was some agreement somewhere with the youths and women to amend the constitution. The same President Hakainde Hichilema who promised to deliver a people driven constitution seems to have clearly forgotten his own words as he is now trying to impose a constitution that seeks to increase substantially the number of members of parliament so that he can secure himself in power, even when Zambians try to hold him accountable over some of the false or unfulfilled promises he made.
His administration has announced the delimitation of constituencies in the constitutional amendment bill, without specifying where the same constituencies are. In his ill-advised view, he thinks he’s all knowing where his administration can treat Zambians like little children by keeping all this information to themselves, and only give it to Zambians later when they feel like. What is he hiding? Usually, people have a tendency of hiding things which are not honest, which are born out of dishonest scheming. If your own administration has announced that its pursuing a contractionary fiscal policy, and while you are everyday boasting that you are restructuring debt, why should you at the same time come up with undertakings that will strain your treasury further through increased members of parliament?
What is happening now raises the urgency of restoring honesty to leadership. We can’t continue on the same path where politicians lie for a living, where they change like chameleons the moment they are elected into office. And the restoration of honesty should not only be aimed at the politicians in this administration, but all the politicians, including those in the opposition as they seem to be affected by the same virus to some varying degree.
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