Commonwealth off-side - AU
THE Commonwealth is overstepping its mandate by insisting on dialogue between the Zambian government and opposition political parties; and proposing certain changes to local constitutional institutions, the African Union Economic and Social Council (AU-ECOSOC) has charged.
In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, AU-ECOSOC Continental Representative Joseph Chilengi said it was inappropriate for the Commonwealth secretariat to champion the proposed dialogue between the Zambian government and the opposition political parties that did not embrace internal democratic and electoral processes.
“We recommend that the proposed dialogue be an informal process. Political parties that raise issues on governance, human rights, and electoral processes in Zambia, are themselves dictatorial, autocratic, and undemocratic.
“The same political parties, except for the Patriotic Front which has subjected itself to an internal electoral process and this is on record, do not conform to democratic and good governance tenets. They have never subjected themselves to any electoral process in their parties,
Therefore, they should not be allowed to be around the dialogue table as they do not have a democratic platform through which their members elect them and adopt their policies and programmes,” Mr. Chilengi said
He said leaders coming to the dialogue table with their personal views and opinions cannot reach consensus.
“Africa will not grow in its democracy if those aspiring for leadership come from the product of dictatorship and autocracy in their parties. You don’t add any value from such actors to the governance, democracy and human rights of any country
“Democracy of African countries is challenged, not by those not in government, but by opposition parties that are zero rated about democracy, electoral processes, and human rights. You don’t expect a crocodile that lives in water throughout its life to be effective and efficient on land. If a political party is undemocratic and does not subject itself to internal electoral processes, you don’t expect it to promote such values if it is in government,” he said.
Mr. Chilengi said issues arising from the 2016 elections were between the PF and other political parties, and therefore the Commonwealth should leave government out of the proposed dialogue.
“The Commonwealth is overstepping its responsibilities, the Commonwealth is not linked to any local institution on the continent be it AU, SADC, COMESA or any other. They have no presence on the continent and you cannot come and start discussions on the continent without taking into account existing institutional, continental, regional or national institutional frameworks and policies.
“Political parties are not constitutional institutions and their actors are not constitutional office bearers. The shared values of the African continent are not the same as those of the Commonwealth because Africa’s shared values are people centred and people driven. The recent example is where the African Union encouraged its members to pull out of the International Criminal Court.”