DEMOCRACY FAILS IN PF ADOPTIONS

By SUFZ Correspondent

The Patriotic Front (PF) which since inception faced difficulties in finding candidates for parliamentary and local government seats during general elections finds itself in yet another dilemma.

This time the problem has been caused by the PF's unelected leader Michael Sata imposing of candidates who are unpopular on the ground. If there is anything that Mr. Sata fears, it is to be surrounded by credible and intelligent people. This was clear from the people he handpicked to be in his Central Committee at a poorly organised General Conference in Kabwe. Mr. Sata is also said to be sidelining high caliber candidates who had applied to stand on the PF ticket. He prefers relatives and tribesmen and women. Unlike the MMD which has adopted professionals from a cross-section of society ranging from public administrators, medical doctors, lawyers, accountants to business people, the PF has opted to fill its structures with Mr. Sata's bootlickers. This only strengthens the view that PF was formed by one person who wants to go to State House without any set of ideas to develop the country. In essence this is the main reason the UPND/PF Pact failed because UPND always emphasised the development of an economic programme before choosing the pact leader while PF emphasised on who should be president of the PACT.

PF gravitates and is centred on one person who if he was not there, the entire party would not be there. Hence, even the adoption process is based on Sata's preferences.

Although he has told the grassroots to interview people, none of the interviewed will be adopted. For instance in Munali Constituency of Lusaka, Nkandu Luo who did not attend the interviews is poised to be adopted leaving out the candidate preferred by the grassroots structures.

The youths in Munali are up in arms and have threatened to defect to MMD because of these undemocratic tendencies by Mr. Sata. The Patriotic Front in Isoka district, Northern Province have equally rejected a Caritas Mpika employee the party has imposed on Isoka West Constituency as parliamentary candidate. Other PF applicants in Isoka district have now petitioned their president and the national secretariat over irregularities in the adoption of candidates in Northern Province.  In Matero constituency, Mr. Sata is poised to feature his nephew Mr. Miles   Sampa who   is   a   former director at Finance Bank during the now embattled Dr. Rajah Mahtani chairmanship of the Bank.

This again proves how PF is undemocratic in all its operations and tries to hoodwink the electorate. Many political observers have indicated that because of the poor process of adopting candidates, the PF will lose to MMD by a big margin because it is as incorrigible and arrogant as its leader. It is therefore logical that the MMD will win this year's Presidential elections without problems. It is even shocking that a party that has always failed to field 150 candidates and several councilors always claims that elections are rigged. The PF has been a bad loser because whenever they lose they find an excuse to blame others for their failures.

How can a party that has failed to field all candidates expect to win national elections?

In 2001, it only fielded less than 30 candidates at parliamentary level and claimed that it won those elections. In 2006 it only fielded less than 99 candidates and still claim to be a big party.

PF cannot win elections anywhere which is why even their internal elections are flawed. The Central Committee is not elected but selected by one person who also selected himself without being subjected to elections contrary to the provision of party constitution which is clear that all structures of the party shall be elected.

If a party cannot exercise internal democracy, how can it exercise democracy at the national level? It is a shame for PF in its current form to even mention the word democracy, as it adheres to no democratic principles whatsoever. Lack of democracy is self destructive because where there is no democracy there are no systems and no rule of law but the rule of men. Individuals matter more than institutions and legalities.

Individuals are prone to error while systems are not. This explains why the PF is a diminishing entity; its life span is based on one person whose agenda is to go to State House. When PF loses the forthcoming election, it will be no more.

 

Mr. Sata has run out of ideas; there is no message to tell the people that he has cheated over a long period of time. It should not be surprising that Mr. Sata has been failing to address meetings, his rallies only last for fifteen minutes after that it becomes difficult for him to say anything else. Some people have said that his radio programmes and rallies have been becoming shorter and shorter because of his poor health. While that may be true, he has equally run out of ideas.