Political consciousness growing among Zambians – Luonde
By Staff Reporter
Socialist Party spokesperson Father Richard Luonde says the massive boycott of the recent mayoral polls in Lusaka heralds the beginning of a “cold season” for the advocates of neo liberal right wing politics in Zambia.
About 15% of the registered voters in Lusaka cast their votes in last Thursday mayoral election won by Miles Sampa of the Patriotic Front.
“The refusal by the vast majority of our people to participate in electoral processes that are meaningless was a phenomenal feat of bravery and must be commended. By and large, it is a reflection of the people’s resolve not to fall prey to deceptive messages from the advocates of the capitalist order,” stated Luonde. “Apo twatampila uku vota tapali ico tusangapo, ba PF na ba UPND bonse bamo bene, ma capitalist baisekeshafye abeneka, bakala ivotela abene beka” is a common refrain across wide sections of the people these days”.
He said given the paralyzing statistics of poverty that define our daily lives, one would have expected a massive turn out at all polling stations in the hope of free WiFi, skyscrapers in Misisi and Kanyama, a state of the art road network in Matero as promised by the various contending candidates.
Fr Luonde said inspite of these sugarcoated statements, the conscientized mass of the people were able to decipher lies from these dishonest pronouncements.
“These ill-fated statements did not resonate with the needs of the people. At worst, it showed that all the contestants in the mayoral polls were remotely connected to the needs of the people and did not understand in the least the upstream social and economic factors that largely but insidiously dictate our livelihoods.
He said it was encouraging that the majority of the people were becoming evermore conscious of the fact that capitalism was not a system for the poor.
“It is a system that “soaks” the poor to enrich the rich. Since 1991, when we got seriously involved with neo liberal capitalism, hunger has been rising, poverty has been rising, unemployment has been rising, and life expectancy has been decreasing exponentially. Primary health-care is nothing to speak about in Zambia today. Access to education is a real nightmare,” Fr Luonde said. “A large number of our youths are not in school because they have not paid school fees while a good number of them have not gotten their transcripts of results due to oustanding fees”.
He said over time, Zambia had progressively lost its economic sovereignty and the majority of citizens had been pushed to the peripherals of the economic circles, thereby, reducing them to free cheap packets of labour for the Chinese nationals and consumers of Chinese cheap products.
“The Socialist Party is so far the only political party with a progressive message worth paying attention to,” fr Luonde said.
He said the restoration of economic sovereignty, unfettered access to education, access to primary health-care, and restoration of dignity to all the people are the major conerstones of the Socialist Party.
