Africa-Press – Zambia. By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
The other day, we were greeted to news of a record 8 aspiring councilor candidates on the Socialist Party ticket on the Copperbelt ditching the party to join UPPZ. Consequently, this simply means there have to be fresh nominations for the affected wards in the said province.
What a waste of resources! What a mockery of our so called democracy! Of course there are so many folks taking our democracy for granted; we won’t waste time discussing these individuals for now due to limited space, but we shall instead focus on M’membe’s pet project – the Socialist Party.
In one constituency in Lusaka, there was one particular individual who stood out as a staunch socialist. He was quick to feature on every radio station and appear on any available TV channel to spread the good news about socialism. He was aspiring to be MP in the area. Somehow along the way, he abandoned the party and joined another opposition political party. He has since gone for greener pastures in the ruling party…….typical of Zambian politicians; flip-floppers!
In the Copperbelt province, another gentleman who has since been adopted to stand as MP in a certain constituency had previously contemplated contesting the elections on the main opposition political party ticket UPND. However once he realized that he didn’t stand a better chance of being adopted due to stiff competition, he became socialist overnight! There are of course many others!
What do we make of this? Many of those masquerading as socialists either don’t clearly understand the concept or are yet to be fully rooted in the ideology, hence the reason why it’s practically easy for them to quickly switch to other political parties.
Looking at the billboards the Socialist Party has splashed on our highways around the country or T/shirts and vitenges that have been handed-out to citizens including those in remotest villages, one would be mistaken to think the party is enjoying increasing support.
Yes, the party is on the billboards but not really on the ground…….to put it more succinctly, it’s a fantasy idea that only exist in M’membe’s head. The sooner he appreciates this reality check, the earlier he’s going to protect himself from suffering from potential heart attack!
Oil money can continue pouring in from Socialist states to lubricate the bearings of the Socialist Party to clothe every woman and man in the street in a chitenge or T/shirt and of course adorn every street with billboards, but one thing is for sure though……..It will take another century for our citizens to fully embrace the concept of socialism. By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
