Tag: Corruption

    Zambia needs a new type of politics

    Zambia needs a new type of politics Featured

    May 29, 2021 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    Over the next eleven weeks, you will hear, from my opponents or competitors, how our country is flourishing, how happy we all are, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspective are unfolding before us.

    I didn’t accept to be the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party so that I, too, would lie to you. Our country is not flourishing. Zambia is 123rd in the overall Prosperity Index rankings. Since 2010, Zambia has moved down the rankings table by 12 places.

    A country once proud of its educational standards now spends so little on education that it ranks so low in the world. Our country which used to rank so low on the corruption index today is among the world’s most corrupt nations.

    Today we live in a highly contaminated moral environment. We have lost our values, principles, standards and common aims. We learned to ignore each other, to care only for ourselves. In Zambia today love, friendship, compassion, equity, justice, solidarity, fairness and humility have lost their depth and dimensions.

    When I talk about the contaminated moral atmosphere, I am speaking about all of us. We have all become used to a corrupt and intolerant system and accepted it as an unalterable fact of life, and thus we help to perpetuate it. None of us is just its victim; we are all its co-creators.

    We urgently need a new type of politics based on morality, principles, values, standards and common aims. We need to teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of the desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than of a need to cheat or rape the community. Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not only the art of the possible, especially if “the possible” includes the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals, and pragmatic maneuvering, but that it can also be the art of the possible, that is, the art of improving ourselves and the country.

    We have a duty to struggle for a more just, fair and humane society. We should dream of such a Republic.

    Fred M’membe
    President of the Socialist Party

    Zambian women, stand up for genuine change!

    Zambian women, stand up for genuine change! Featured

    March 8, 2021 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    Today, as Zambia joins the world in marking International Women’s Day, the Socialist Party issues this call to the women of Zambia: stand up for a genuine change!

    For so long, the overwhelming majority of Zambians have suffered from poverty, hunger, unemployment, lack of government support for farming, expensive social services, and repression of the most basic civil and political rights.

    Today, our situation has further worsened: highest prices on foodstuffs, longest load shedding hours, lack of water services and proper sanitation, expensive health services amidst a pandemic, and the steepest decline of the Kwacha against major currencies.

    There has also been corruption scandal after corruption scandal, involving top officials of the land.

    This year, we mark Women’s Day amidst news of the country’s richest becoming even richer fast, while the majority who are poor are becoming even poorer. The majority of Zambians – workers, farmers, unemployed, urban and rural poor – are suffering. But the women who belong to these sectors – the overwhelming majority of Zambian women – are suffering the most.

    Who is burdened with budgeting the little income for the day’s meals, if not with finding that income in the first place? Who ensures that there’s water in the house? Who ensures that kids go to school, that the sick in the family is taken care of?

    This Women’s Day, let us recognize the labor of Zambian women. While the Zambian poor and people are burdened with the country’s problems, Zambian women bear an additional burden. They work so hard and give so much of themselves – often without recognition, rest, or remuneration.

    This Women’s Day, let us recognize this added burden of women and commit to reducing it.

    Happy Women’s Day!

    Nancy Busiku Mpongo

    Socialist Party

    Mandevu Constituency Secretary.

    Press Statement of the Socialist Party on the termination of appointment of Dr. Chitalu Chilufya as Minister of Health

    Press Statement of the Socialist Party on the termination of appointment of Dr. Chitalu Chilufya as Minister of Health Featured

    January 10, 2021 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    The Socialist Party views the termination of Dr. Chitalu Chilufya’s appointment as Minister of Health by President Edgar Lungu as an action that was long overdue.

    At the centre of the current corruption scandal in a procurement of USD 17 million worth of fake medicines, leaking condoms and gloves. Apart from the immense amounts of money involved. Thousands of lives of our citizens are endangered by this act of greed and impunity.

    The termination of Dr. Chilufya’s appointment is however not sufficient. All the money spent on this procurement must be paid back to the people of Zambia. Criminal prosecution must also be initiated against the entire team that was involved in this procurement. This includes the suppliers of the fake medicines and defective supplies.

    This procurement scandal is just one of the many involving the Ministry of Health. Easier access to donor funding, a glaring lack of internal controls, a compromised role of the Ministry of Finance and an Office of the President that has continually been co-opted in a parasitic relationship with the Ministry of Health have all contributed towards the never-ending decay of this key Ministry.

    The issue at hand therefore goes beyond Dr. Chilufya. We are dealing with a government agency, like many others, that has nurtured corruption and made it part of its culture. The newly appointed Minister of Health, Dr. Jonas Chanda, will end up the same way. The greediness and individualism embedded in neo-liberal capitalism compromises the chances for accountability and a leadership that is answerable to the masses of our people. It creates arrogant and little monsters out of would be leaders.

    Statement Issued by:Dr. Cosmas Musumali

    Socialist PartyGeneral Secretary,

    Nahubwe Area, Itezhitezhi

    Analysis of 2018 and expectations in 2019: by Socialist Party General Secretary, Dr Cosmas Musumali

    Analysis of 2018 and expectations in 2019: by Socialist Party General Secretary, Dr Cosmas Musumali

    January 4, 2019 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    Q. Comrade we have just done 2018, how do you analyze the year 2018?

    A. 2018 was a very difficult year for Zambians, especially those without jobs, those that lost jobs, those that depend on their meager salaries for survival and those that are trying to earn a living through farming, students who have not been able to pay their fees, and basically all poor and marginalized Zambians.

    With the downturn of the Zambian economy, a lot of things are very hard to come by for the average Zambian. And what we have also seen is that apart from the economy biting and making life very, very difficult for our people, the political climate has also worsened – there has been increased repression from the leading political party and from those in government. We have also seen high levels of intolerance when it comes to dealing with national issues, we have also witnessed state sponsored violence where crisis and the issues that should have been dealt with amicably were resolved using strong hand tactics.

    And this is most likely not going to end in 2019, it is a continuum of violence that is increasingly making life very difficult in Zambia. But we have also seen the reaction of the international community, one of the sad areas was in the areas of corruption, where donors had to go to the extent of withdrawing their support because we are deemed to be a corrupt society especially the leadership and even the government itself.

    We have seen our grading in terms of governance deteriorating, in terms of human rights, in terms of the livelihoods of the people and many other indicators of governance and economic wellbeing.

    Economic status and projection

    In short, 2018 has not been an easy year: things have been rather difficult for the average Zambian, the little bit of democratic space that was gained earlier on has been lost in that year and the hope is becoming less that 2019 is going to be any better. For 2019 we expect the continuation of the suffering that we saw in 2018. I would add actually that things are going to be worse off compared to 2018. What we expect is an economy that is literally stagnating, and as the economy is stagnating we expect also that inflationary pressures to come in, in a much bigger way, its going to be very, very difficult to do away with the inflation when it comes to food, and beyond food also some of the none food products upon which the poor people depend.

    Social Services

    We see a lot of difficulties in accessing social amenities, social utilities for the masses of our people, the paying of school fees is going to be a challenge, the meeting of transport needs or requirements is going to be a big challenge, food itself is going to be a big challenge for our people, hospitals and medical requirements are still going to be another hustle.

    Political Resistance and Repression

    So 2019 may also produce some bit of resistance from our people, as the suffering increases there is a good chance that people are going to go out on the street to vent out their anger. With that, there is also a possibility of much more repression as the government becomes insecure and unstable.

    Political Players and alternatives

    On the political scene we do not see much change, what we are witnessing in Zambia is a proliferation of opposition political parties that do not have a different agenda from that of government. These are capitalist political parties that are repositioning themselves; these find the leadership of the PF and government weak and they are vying for positions not necessarily that they are doing it for the betterment of Zambians but they see their chances to get into power, come 2021. That’s the dilemma that we find ourselves in, in the political sphere in Zambia. And the troubles of 2019 are going to be a huge reflection of this dilemma.

    Pacifying political tensions

    We expect also to see some attempts towards national dialogue taking place, as the situation becomes critical, we will most likely see certain parties such as the church coming in and trying to bring in some bit of sanity. We do appreciate those efforts, we will support those efforts, we are skeptical that the current government has the willingness, has the capacity, the commitment to changing the situation. It’s an elite, political elite that has come into power using violence and if it doesn’t use violence what else has it got to offer? It’s an elite that continues to use the buying of people, misusing government resources, it’s parasitic on the public funding and this is a culture that it cannot just easily stop. But as it tries to re-assert itself, there will be contradictions within those that are in power and there will be some form of opposition within the leading party itself or the ruling party itself but that should not be judged as a measure of increased democracy and transparency in Zambia. If anything it’s a measure of a failing elite, failing in terms of providing to the Zambians. Then it becomes insecure and starts fighting itself. Not necessarily that those that are fighting the current government have got much or better to offer, NO. Definitely not.

    The alternative

    For SP, for the socialist party, we feel the main fight is against the failures of capitalism, it’s a system that hasn’t delivered to our people for so many years and it won’t definitely deliver in 2019. Joblessness is going to increase, inflationary pressures are going to increase and any wealth that created in Zambia is going to be consumed or is going to accrue mostly to the already rich people. And this is not going to change, it’s going to be enhanced. The richer will get richer, the poor will remain poor under the capitalism that we experience in Zambia. And as a party we stand firm behind the suffering masses, behind the working people of this country. We will do our part to agitate, we will do our part to stand firm for the masses and against the exploitative and repressive tendencies of the current government. It’s going to be a year of struggle, but we also think that with our combined forces it is going to produce positive results. By the end of the year, that movement towards peace, towards equity, towards justice will gain in strength it will give Zambians the confidence that they can be masters of their destiny and that Zambia can be a better society. That’s how we get into 2019, it’s going to be a year of resistance, a year of the revolution.

    Thank you.

    Capitalism Bears the Seeds of Corruption

    Capitalism Bears the Seeds of Corruption

    May 29, 2018 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    By Faston Mwale

    Recently, Zambia has been treated to a wide range of serious corruption allegations involving top government leaders. But accusations of illegal acquisition of wealth by senior public officers are not new in Zambia, what is new, however, is the level or the size of the acts of corruption committed. Not long ago, we heard about the massive scandal in which over $1million worth of drugs varnished at Medical Stores Limited, consequently placing the Ministry of Health at a high risk of discontinuation of funding support from the Global Fund. Inevitably, this would place over 1.2million people currently on HIV/AIDS and TB medical support programs in a precarious position. Part of the plundered resources are being invested in foreign countries at a time when unemployment levels in the country are at a record low. Our youths graduating from tertiary institutions are having to contend with a bleak future in which a prospect for employment is perceptibly small. In part and to a larger extent, this is what has given birth to gangsterism a phenomenon little known in the last two decades or so. This is how deleterious corruption can be.

    What is at issue is the fact that Zambians hardly see anything wrong with corruption, as such we tolerate the vice rather than abhor it. The parasitic petty bourgeoise elite in the political leadership of the country seem to have managed to hypnotize us into docility. I dare say without any fear of contradiction that by virtue of our inordinate silence, we have become consummate accomplices to the vice of corruption. Resources meant for development are plundered with impunity. Unfortunately, those who loot the country’s resources are in many cases deified rather than condemned. Today, Zambia is ranked among the highly corrupt countries of the world at number 97. Zambia is the third hungriest nation on earth. Even in the face of these paralyzing statistics, we don’t seem to see anything wrong with corruption. The question is why?

    One of the deformities of a capitalist system is corruption and as long as we remain clenched within the claws of capitalism, we shall continue to wallow in poverty in the midst of plenty. A system that thrives on unbridled greed and flourishes on cutthroat competition driven by an insatiable appetite to consume to satisfy naked self-interest cannot be said to be good. A system that ‘soaks’ the poor to enrich the rich must be superseded by a humane system that advances the values of justice, equity and peace in our societies.

    Unfortunately, the majority of the political parties that we have in Zambia save for the Socialist Party have a neo-liberal capitalist character. They are appendages of the capitalist system. Perhaps, that is why it is unamazing to see a political leader sticking out his neck to openly justify and massage an act of corruption involving colossal sums of money. Instead of expressing disapproval to acts of corruption, he finds it acceptable to say, “boyi yaluka, bwesha, this issue has generated a lot of controversy.” I may ask, where is the morality in this type of leadership?

    When our desperate youths engage themselves in ruthless attacks against each other as they compete for space in illegal mining activities, the government is conspicuously unmoved by such obnoxious events. All what government officials say is, “arrest them and throw them in jail” without ever caring to examine the class forces that dictate themselves into the crisis of the moment.

    In the main, the crises that we are beginning to see today emanate from unfair distribution of resources made worse by dispossessions. Corruption which seems to have become a norm in Zambia has created wide income disparities. Given a Gini Coefficient of 57.5, Zambia is among the ten most unequal countries in the world. If interventions are not put in place to stem the growing income inequalities, gangsterism, crude forms of theft, ghastly murders, to mention a few will continue to haunt us. There is need, therefore, for a fundamental change in the way our country’s resources are managed, controlled and owned. A leadership that denies its people, especially the youth, the dream of a decent future is as useless as the system that creates it and must be discarded altogether.

    Forward to Socialism! VIVA SP