PF AND THE WAY FORWARD The idea of a ‘sole candidate’ strictly applies only under the current circumstances of the PF having a presidential candidate in a national by-election. The emergency is created more by the State requirement of 90-days for a by-election and not by the party. If the PF were not in power, and would therefore have freedom to participate or not participate in the by-election, they would have taken their time to hold the conference and elect their leader without problems. This is the best, wisest and constitutional way. But if neither the central committee nor the acting president gives in to break the existing constitutional crisis, I propose the following two steps as the way forward: 1. Hold a consensus building meeting: Those who have thus far applied to stand for the party presidency and those to soon follow, must be invited into a CC meeting to build consensus that: - There will be no general conference now but in 2016 to adopt a candidate for the 2016 elections. Everybody will be free to contest. - Conduct a secret ballot of who the vice president should be from among the aspirants, endorse one or retain Guy Scott as Veep. 2. Get to work amending the PF constitution. This document needs serious surgery. It was designed for a strong man who is no more. There is enough time between now and 2016 to fix it, adapt it to post-Sata era, democratize it, circulate it to members and then come and validate it at the general conference. Also update your membership registers and renew the mandates of your voting organs, most of which have now expired. Once consensus is reached, it should be made public and transparent. If necessary, binding agreements must be drawn and signed, with witnesses such as LAZ, eminent personalities, church mother bodies, civil society and judges. And should this way forward be found worthy, may I also be invited to the signing event. The agreements can be called The Chona Accords, in honour of Mainza Chona and his role in uniting the political parties at the heart of the independence struggle, which made the victory possible. This is to ensure that whoever will be interim president up to 2016, he does not renegade and dribble others with equally legitimate intentions to lead this country. Intentions they want to try out now rather than in the too distant future. In addition, he too will need assurance that the people he will serve with in his government will commit wholeheartedly to delivering government programmes instead of undermining him as part of positioning themselves for elections. The agreements must also include holding a referendum on the new national constitution at the same time as the 2016 general elections. This will give the PF added strength to their campaign. This is a win-win for everybody. Furthermore, RB is (or could be) back. A pact with HH is the best option for both of them. RB can be the interim president of the pact or merger with the sole mission of delivering a referendum on the constitution with 2016 general elections. He would then step aside for the “new generation of leaders” and the deputizing HH would step up. The stakes just shot through the roof. PF must sober up! “It seems impossible until it is done.” ~ Nelson Mandela.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 05:31:33 +0000
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