26 April 2011
Committee of Citizens executive director Gregory Chifire has challenged the Law Association of Zambia to break its silence on laws regarding homosexuality and help interpret the laws on the matter.
And Mr Chifire said it will be difficult for Zambians to vote for the Patriotic Front (PF) because it has failed to transform itself into a modern democratic party following the opposition party’s failure to elect leaders through a convention a few months before the general elections.
Mr Chifire said his organisation is concerned with LAZ’s silence over the laws regarding homosexuality in Zambia and challenged the association to interpret the laws regarding the matter.
Mr Chifire said in a statement that he was concerned over the silence by LAZ on the matter regarding the recorded interview of PF leader Michael Sata with foreign journalists where he made remarks on the alien culture of homosexuality .
“In this interview, which is now in public domain, Mr Sata promised to enhance gay rights in Zambia. He also promised to expunge from the statutes sodomy and bestiality laws so that he could guarantee gay rights in Zambia.
“He assured his funders that the laws of Zambia, according to Mr Sata, recognise gayism and lesbianism. He further stated that the laws that are available in our statute books should be implemented to allow Zambians to practice homosexuality,” Mr Chifire said.
He said it was because of the serious nature of Mr Sata’s remarks that his organisation was asking LAZ to state the correct position of the laws of Zambia such as chapter 87, section 155 of the penal code, the marriage Act and other relevant pieces of legislation.
“Zambia is a Christian nation and it is a duty of every leader like Mr Sata to uphold Christian principles and values.
“Further, our tradition, custom and cultural norms do not support homosexuality and the strangeness of its rights,” Mr Chifire said.
The embracing of gay rights by Mr Sata was an attempt to get funding from some Western countries that are pushing for constitutional recognition of gay rights in African countries.
Mr Chifire called on the clergy to immediately and strongly reprimand the PF leader for attempting to mortgage the country’s Christian values and its rich traditions and cultures only because he wanted quick money from donors.
Meanwhile, Mr Chifire said that most of the opposition political parties are built on individuals and not the general membership.
“These individuals are the ones that determine the future of these political parties. It is clear that as it is now, only the MMD seems ready for this year’s elections given that they have held their convention and elected leaders democratically.
“The PF has failed to transform itself into a modern democratic political party. Most of our opposition parties still have a long way to go before they can really learn the tenets of democracy,” he said.
He said with a few months to go before the general elections, it was clear that the PF was not ready as they had not yet had their national convention.
He said political parties built around individuals had a tendency of assuming dictatorial positions.
Mr Chifire wondered how such parties that failed to put in place leaders democratically would provide democratic leadership if elected into office.
“It is also impossible for such political parties to win an election because it means that they are not represented countrywide. And when you look at most of these opposition parties they are regional in nature.
“The only political party that has a national character for now is the MMD. The PF, UPND, ADD are all regional political parties,” he said.
The failure by opposition parties to build a national character was the reason for their loss during elections.
“They are quick to cry foul but they forget that they fail to build their parties in all the 150 constituencies,” he said.
But PF secretary General Wynter Kabimba said the opposition party would hold its convention either next month or in June.
He said so far the party had successfully held 10 provincial assemblies in all the provinces.
Mr Kabimba said 3,000 delegates would attend the opposition party conference.
“We have held 10 provincial conferences as you may be aware that for political administration, we have added one province to cater for the other parts of Northern Province like Isoka, Mbala. We are calling this province Muchinga,” he said.
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