NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CONFERENCE: WHY THE NOISE?
The constitution making process in Zambia has become rather messy and characterised by acrimony. Not that acrimony per se is bad, but it may be a healthy sign if it is both an affirmation and expression of a mature society that accommodates divergence and diversity of views.
Unfortunately, in today’s Zambia with exceedingly low levels of tolerance and accommodation, continued acrimony characterized by high handed attitudes, precipitate and confrontational behavior, incessant bickering over issues of such profound concern of our country could lead to polarization, which may be the best prescription for social disorder and wasteful mechanisms that have led to the condemnation of many African countries as agents of perpetual regression and consequential poverty.
The constitution of a country is per force the fundamental law of a country. It cannot be neutral on forms of governance and other issues auxiliary and incidental there to including the direction of socio-economic development and social equity. All citizens are stakeholders in any desired constitutional process and a meaningful and sustainable constitution at the end of the day is only accomplished if it is a product of consensus by an unquestionably broad spectrum of society.
In tracing the process of writing a constitution and the consequent noise in the under taking, it is important to give a brief background of the much controversial constitutional process.
According to the interim report of the constitution review commission dated 20th June 2007, the Republican President Dr. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa appointed the Constitutional Review Commission on 17th April 2003. This was two years after the coming into office of President Mwanawasa¢s regime and eight years after the enactment under controversial circumstances of the 1996 Mwanakatwe constitution. Many people however, had expected the president to push through the constitution much earlier in his term instead of waiting for two years to do so, because constitutional review was the most prioritized issue the public expected, given the controversy surrounding the Chiluba exercise on the same, as Alexander Chikwanda puts it ‘before the 2006 parliamentary and Presidential elections, there was an outcry for expedition in ordaining a new constitution So that the presidential election results would have reflected a 50 percent plus one to ensure the president was given an indisputable electoral mandate’.
By statutory instrument number 40 of 2003 cap 41, the President appointed the commission headed by Mr. Willa. D. Mungomba. It will be recalled that this was the fourth commission to have been appointed to review the country’s constitution since independence in 1964 which alone suggests that previous exercises had simply not been successful according to Professor Michelo Hansungule.
'Government granted the commission a whooping 31 terms of reference literary asking it to look at every aspect that previously deferred solution in effective constitution making.’ Among the important terms of reference stated by government include: a recommendation of a system of government that will promote democratic governance and against the emergence of a dictatorial form of government and to suitable methods of amending and adopting the constitution.
The commission duly discharged its functions, which it was instituted to carry out. It must be noted that petitioners where called upon to address themselves on the mode adoption were some recommendations suggested that the process be adopted by the president, house of chiefs, and by the commission itself. However the two most preferred modes were adoption by the constituent assembly and by the national assembly. The latter however, is the current mode the country has used since independence.
Of the two most preferred methods, the commission after a marathon review of previous Mvunga and Mwanakatwe review processes in which petitioners similarly recommended adoption by the constituent assembly decided to settle for the latter against adoption by the national assembly. Convincing reasons however were advanced by this decision including previous mistrust over the use of the current mode of adoption in which the government abused its inherent power to prejudge the outcome of the review process and reject some of the recommendations made substituting them for its own.
However, despite the CRC having recommended that a constituent assembly, or any popular body that would represent the views of the people adopt the new constitution, government however went ahead to settle for the mode of adoption by the NCC. This came to light through the Chief government spokesperson, Mike Mulongoti who announced on July the 15, 2007 that government was departing from what the majority of people agreed to on the constitution making process and apparently the noise was initiated.
The noise in the process of writing the constitution as stated by the Times of Zambia News Paper dated 27th July, 2007, could further be stated that it started when president Levy Mwanawasa gave his assert to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Act early in September 2007. A number of stakeholders have however, rejected the NCC act, saying it cannot deliver a people driven constitution that could stand the test of time.
The Catholic Church is among the stakeholders that have rejected the NCC act. According to the President of Zambia Episcopal conference Fr. Telephore Mpundu, the church would only sit in the NCC if the Act were revised.
The church also rejected calls by Government that those who are aggrieved should take their grievances to the conference, however, fears are that when the sittings begin the NCC act will not be on the menu at the conference, alleging that by the time the deliberations start the members of the NCC will have made a solemn oath to abide by the act. It is however, not logical to consider the act later but the time to re-look at the act is now rather than later Mpundu said.
However, the bishops have raised five objections to the act, first they alledged that the law departs from the clear recommendation by the people that a new constitution be written. It suggests that it will be up to the conference to determine the need for a new constitution.
Secondly, there is Noise as the bishops argue that the expected 502 delegates, of the conference 337 are politicians and government related participants. It is also argued that many other stakeholders will be shut from the deliberations and the mere fact that the law provides for wide classes of participants without specifying how they will be chosen is an issue to consider in the transparency of the process.
The third objection the bishops have put forth is that the act gives sweeping powers to the conference that, in the light of the same skewed composition, the delegates can undo the demands and wishes of the people for over 20 years of a need for a totally new constitution.
The fourth decision the bishops have put fourth in their reject of the act is that the church has expressed fears that the role of parliament as provided for in the NCC act, could lead to mere amendment to the current constitution, instead of writing a new one. It is argued that the NCC brings back parliament to play a role even before the referendum. The question raised is that ‘will parliament deliver this, given the number of times it has failed the people’?
Finally, the church argues that the act gives the president a blank cheque to dissolve the conference if he/she deems it necessary, or extend its life span for as long as he/she wishes.
The church however, express a concern that if these issues are thoroughly dealt with, they shall be willing to attend and participate fully in the conference. If however, this fails then the church reserves the right to stay away from the conference, as they do not want to give legitimacy to a process that lacks proper consensus. The church is not the only institution that has contested to the Act; various political parties and other associations have alleged that the act cannot represent the views of the people.
It is clear that the CRC recommended that a constituent assembly or any popular body that would represent the views of the people adopt the new constitution. It can be assumed in this matter that the people of Zambia through the CRC want a totally new constitution and not amendments to the current constitution and this should be through a body which would represent their views or at least be seen to be representing the people’s views.
Patriotic front (PF) secretary General, Edward K. Mumbi has said that the position of the PF is that the NCC in its current form and composition cannot and will not represent the views of the people. The party alleges that the act has not taken on board the key recommendations of the stake holders through the parliamentary committee on legal affairs, governance, human rights and gender on the national constitutional conference bill (No 26 of 2007). For instance, where as the committee recommended that there should be proportional representation of the conference by having the number of members representing political parties equal to the number of representatives from church mother bodies, the act provides for only three (3) from each church mother body and provides for six (6) from each political party. This brings nominees of political parties in the act to a total of (48) while the church mother bodies have only a paltry twelve (12).
The committee also recommended a reduction of representatives from each security wing from three (3) to one but the amended Act came up with only two (2).
The other contentious issue raised by stakeholders is that despite the committee having recommended a reduction in the number of civil servants to four the number of those civil servants participating has been maintained hence adding flesh to the fears held by a number of stake holders.
The committee went further to suggest that for any church mother body to be qualified to send three (3) representatives pursuant to section 4 (1)(C) it should have been in existence for at least ten (10 years) at the appointment, surprisingly, the Act ignored all this and is now providing for five years of existence only.
Section (7) of the act is clear in that, whoever has numerical superiority in the NCC will carry the day. All decisions of the NCC will be by consensus, adding that all issues will be resolved by secret ballot.
However, as if the above inadequacies are not enough in the act, there is a situation where nominations have been given to non-existing institutions and unnamed organizations. For instance, section 4 (1) (5) stipulate that:
The NCC must comprise one eminent Zambian, from each province who has distinguished oneself in any business field or profession.
Section 4 (1) (j) also provides:
That the NCC must comprise of three (3) representations of women’s organizations that are not members of the non-governmental organizations coordinating council (NGOCC).
Section 4 (1) (z) provides:
Ten (10) representatives of non-governmental organizations registered under the societies act or any other written law.
It is however interesting to note subsections 2 of section 4 provides that: their representative institutions shall nominate the representatives referred to in section 4(1). The question at this point is, which institution will nominate members to the NCC under the above sub section in section 4 considering that there are no known institution in existence at the moment which cater for section 4 (1) (5), (V) and (z) categories nor is there a description of the process by which those at section 4 (1) (5), (V) and (z) shall be identified and nominated.
Patriotic front (PF) president Michael Sata further alleges that the other contentious issue however, is that the powers given to the president under the act in a well analyzed view can be a danger to the process itself as the incumbent can use these powers arbitrary to abort the process if in his sole judgment he believes the process is not going the way he wants.
Government on the other hand, despite the above allegations alleges that the NCC is significant in that it is the first of its kind since independence was attained. This view though can be supported due to the fact that three constitutions have been passed by parliament before but a popular body of the people’s representatives adopted none of those. It is stated that passed constitution recommendations were submitted to the government of the day that decided what to implement and what to leave out. For the first time in Zambia’s history the recommendations of a review commission will be debated and adopted by a body comprising politicians’, traditional leaders, leaders of professional bodies and trade unions, women and youths.
It is interesting to note that not all the civil society organizations have shunned participation in the NCC, one such body is to ZCTU which has confirmed its participation and pledged to advocate for workers rights at the conference, but one may be interested to know which rights will be advocated for, are they the same rights of the civil servants that were rejected in the act or is the ZCTU just going to represent its self interest?.
Lawyers have not be left out in his whole controversy, a pronounced constitutional lawyers is for the view that the NCC is a Golden opportunity for the country to put in a constitution that is legitimate and popular. Mr. John sangwa has however, urged all citizens to participate in order to ensure that a popular and legitimate constitution is put in place that will stand the taste of time.
However, it is important to note that some people who speak for the government quite often more with unconstrained zeal than sense have entertained the country to monologues. These individuals, some, palpably intelligent have their credibility seriously dented by addressing obvious galleries and by giving the impression that they hold the public offices because of their sycophantic propensities and not their cerebral functions and performance.
However, if government intentions are good and its acts appropriately, the national constitutional conference can offer a solution provided government brings on board those political parties and organizations (especially the church) that have expressed genuine reservations not necessarily about the NCC but the way everybody would have be encouraged into submission. The constitution as stated earlier is something in which everyone has a vested interest. Therefore it is important in this instance that all Zambians feel they own the process for this is the only way to pre-empt possible future strife and spare the country the agony and anguish of conflict and civil strife.
Consequently, consensus will be essential in arising at an agreement on the final draft constitution. As a result the only way to give our beloved motherland a constitution to stand the test of time is by entrenching consensus and not circumventing it by some verbal acrobatics and semantic kites. Of course, it is possible that a constitution can be put together by the mode of adoption suggested by the CRC.
As Michael Sata puts it ‘a constitution shrouded in acrimony and bitterness by any sections of our community will be a poisoned chalice and a gross disservice to posterity.’ Therefore in order to bring about oneness in the process, the president’s constituency goes for beyond the zealous MMD cadres, he must embrace all the Zambians and everyone has an inescapable moral responsibility and civic duty not only to support him but also to admonish him with unfilled condor to ensure progress.
Finally in order to ensure transparency and consequently progress in the constitutional making process government must bend back wards if there should be a compelling need to do so to accommodate the church and other stakeholders. It is inappropriate and in expedient for the government to trade obscenities with the church, as chikwanda puts it the church has always been the country’s staunchest and remorseless ally in development endeavours.
The government must recognize that the bishops do not have a private agenda nor are they partisan. It must be noted that when the church speaks on an issues, it is because in their daily interaction within society they see the devastating poverty of the people and widening gap between the few privileged and the majority that are lacking.
It is hoped that every stakeholder in the acrimony over the constitution making process can spare a consideration for the less privileged in society as all their dreams of a prosperous and peaceful Zambia are in their hands. Zambia, as the President (Dr. Mwanawasa) has hinted is bigger than all our individual and collective egos. The overriding interests of posterity should always enjoy unquestioned and unmitigated significance over our petty interests.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
EPAs and youths: what do others say?
JUBILEE Zambia Monze chapter has called for the postponement of the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) scheduled for December 2007 in order to allow for full consultations among the people. And former commerce minister Dipak Patel has challenged the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries including Zambia to question the merits and demerits of the EPA. During a stakeholders meeting on economic literacy held in Monze recently, Jubilee Zambia observed that EPAs will result in reduction and loss of revenue and sovereignty. “We feel that in their current form if signed, the EPAs will lead to reduction and loss of revenue and sovereignty by the government resulting in job losses and will strangle the country’s right to pursue a home grown development agenda. We therefore recommend that signing of the EPAs due in December 2007 be postponed indefinitely to allow for more time for dialogue, consultations and negotiations,’ it stated. Jubilee Zambia stated that there was need for coherence and consistency in the positions Africa adopts in all areas of relations and negotiations with the European Union (EU). “It is increasingly clear that there is inadequate knowledge of the EPA negotiations within the various Regional Economic Communities (RECs), leading to a lack of information to the public about an agreement that has repercussions on their livelihood. So it is important that the issues are not left simply to the cynical manipulations of the EU on one hand and to the deception of ACP regions on the other,” stated Jubilee Zambia. Some of the partner organisations that attended the meeting include farmer associations, marketeers, faith based Organisations, political representatives, pensioners and trade unions. They also called on the government to urgently attend to key areas of concern. And speaking recently, Patel observed that European countries should stop preaching about free trade when their agriculture subsidies were killing the potential of the agriculture sector on the African continent. “So before preaching to Africans about virtues of EPAs and free trade, let the rich countries first think about what their subsidies do to Africa and stop forthwith their unbridled liberalisation demands they make on Africa and other least developed countries (LDCs),” he said. Patel said that EU members, such as Italy, France, Ireland and Spain among many others are steadfast in ensuring that they not only ‘protect’ their farmers from opening up their markets, but also ensure that they continue with subsidies in one form or another.
'Nothing is agreed till everything is agreed!' that's the name of the game, says Zambian Trade, Policy Expert Dipak Patel. Patel was speaking at an EPA National Conference organised by PELUM, KEPA Zambia, JCTR, CSTNZ and CUTS at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre. Patel who is also former Zambian Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry said that African countries are still negotiating Singapore issues (government procurement, at the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is the overall body in the trade issues and wondered why a sudden shift to include the Singapore issues (Investment, government procurement, competition and trade facilitation) in the Economic Partnerships Agreements (EPAs). “African economies are still growing and signing an EPA that includes Singapore issues would mean being "stupid". African countries must not rush into signing these agreements, which will bind them for 15 to 25 years Zambia for example, has made grave mistakes economically during the privatization exercise which she is still recovering from even now. There is no way Zambian companies can compete with Europeans companies in government procurement, it will be dull to think like that" Patel said. Patel said that in the 15 years of him working as trade negotiator for the Zambian government, he has seen how other negotiators from other counties are bull dozed into committing their governments and never say anything in the these meetings of agreements. He mentioned that the trade economic cooperation dimension of CPA under Article 36.1 requires that ACP countries and the EC negotiate World Trade Organization compatible trade regime which should involve the progressive liberalization of trade between the two blocks of countries. Earlier, Director of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Dorothy Tembo said Zambia is faced with challenges of ineffective engagement with the stakeholders due to limited technical capacity constraints to further clarify Zambian's position. Tembo also noted that the other challenge was the conflicting demands of various regional and multilateral commitments such as SADC, COMESA and WTO. "The deadline for signing WTO compatible EPAs is December 31, 2007 and the option of an alternative to an EPA has not been explored. The review has highlighted delays in the negotiation process, capacity constraints, limited human and resource capacity on the ESA side as stumbling blocks in the negotiations. “Zambia as an LDC can fall back on the Everything but Arms (EBA), but EBA is unilateral and not contractual so it can be withdrawn at any time. EBA also has its own shortcomings and does identify alternatives to EPA. Zambia will need to take this into account and cooperate with other ESA countries not in a position to sign an EPA” Said Mrs. Tembo. Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Regional desk, Campaigns, Advocacy and Lobbying Officer Anne Maina said that despite the theoretical benefits of EPAs as seen by the EC like increased intra-regional trade and funding to support regional integration, challenges facing ESA are grave. Maina went to highlight the supply side constraints which include poor infrastructure, inaccessible roads, high costs of inputs and inaccessibility to credit facilities. “It is difficult to see how EPAs will facilitate Africa's intra-regional trade when EU products are likely to displace regional production and intra-regional trade, especially in higher value-added sectors and also the types of Rules of Origin (ROO) that the EU adopts in relation to ACP imports will affect the ACP countries' ability to undertake trans-border regional production,” she said Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are not necessarily bad if trade liberalization is done over a long period of time and if it protects key products, which contribute to livelihood, food security and rural development. However, FTAs can be bad and dangerous when they are between unequal parties like the EU and ESA countries. Subsidies given to EU farmers cause unfair competition as EU products are dumped into ESA countries which will force farmers to abandon production due to unfair competition and this can be a threat to food security. Maina said if EPAs are signed it will lead to small scale farmers losing their livelihoods when faced with increased competition from Europe's highly subsidized products and EPAs will lead to a loss of government revenues from imports and we shall have to carry the burden of adjustment costs as welfare and social services are dropped because of dwindling government revenue. European Commission delegation Francesca Di Mauro said, no ACP country has formally asked for an alternative to EPA. Di Mauro stated that the extension of waiver will be costly and the best option would be to strive to conclude before December 31, 2007.
'Nothing is agreed till everything is agreed!' that's the name of the game, says Zambian Trade, Policy Expert Dipak Patel. Patel was speaking at an EPA National Conference organised by PELUM, KEPA Zambia, JCTR, CSTNZ and CUTS at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre. Patel who is also former Zambian Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry said that African countries are still negotiating Singapore issues (government procurement, at the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is the overall body in the trade issues and wondered why a sudden shift to include the Singapore issues (Investment, government procurement, competition and trade facilitation) in the Economic Partnerships Agreements (EPAs). “African economies are still growing and signing an EPA that includes Singapore issues would mean being "stupid". African countries must not rush into signing these agreements, which will bind them for 15 to 25 years Zambia for example, has made grave mistakes economically during the privatization exercise which she is still recovering from even now. There is no way Zambian companies can compete with Europeans companies in government procurement, it will be dull to think like that" Patel said. Patel said that in the 15 years of him working as trade negotiator for the Zambian government, he has seen how other negotiators from other counties are bull dozed into committing their governments and never say anything in the these meetings of agreements. He mentioned that the trade economic cooperation dimension of CPA under Article 36.1 requires that ACP countries and the EC negotiate World Trade Organization compatible trade regime which should involve the progressive liberalization of trade between the two blocks of countries. Earlier, Director of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Dorothy Tembo said Zambia is faced with challenges of ineffective engagement with the stakeholders due to limited technical capacity constraints to further clarify Zambian's position. Tembo also noted that the other challenge was the conflicting demands of various regional and multilateral commitments such as SADC, COMESA and WTO. "The deadline for signing WTO compatible EPAs is December 31, 2007 and the option of an alternative to an EPA has not been explored. The review has highlighted delays in the negotiation process, capacity constraints, limited human and resource capacity on the ESA side as stumbling blocks in the negotiations. “Zambia as an LDC can fall back on the Everything but Arms (EBA), but EBA is unilateral and not contractual so it can be withdrawn at any time. EBA also has its own shortcomings and does identify alternatives to EPA. Zambia will need to take this into account and cooperate with other ESA countries not in a position to sign an EPA” Said Mrs. Tembo. Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Regional desk, Campaigns, Advocacy and Lobbying Officer Anne Maina said that despite the theoretical benefits of EPAs as seen by the EC like increased intra-regional trade and funding to support regional integration, challenges facing ESA are grave. Maina went to highlight the supply side constraints which include poor infrastructure, inaccessible roads, high costs of inputs and inaccessibility to credit facilities. “It is difficult to see how EPAs will facilitate Africa's intra-regional trade when EU products are likely to displace regional production and intra-regional trade, especially in higher value-added sectors and also the types of Rules of Origin (ROO) that the EU adopts in relation to ACP imports will affect the ACP countries' ability to undertake trans-border regional production,” she said Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are not necessarily bad if trade liberalization is done over a long period of time and if it protects key products, which contribute to livelihood, food security and rural development. However, FTAs can be bad and dangerous when they are between unequal parties like the EU and ESA countries. Subsidies given to EU farmers cause unfair competition as EU products are dumped into ESA countries which will force farmers to abandon production due to unfair competition and this can be a threat to food security. Maina said if EPAs are signed it will lead to small scale farmers losing their livelihoods when faced with increased competition from Europe's highly subsidized products and EPAs will lead to a loss of government revenues from imports and we shall have to carry the burden of adjustment costs as welfare and social services are dropped because of dwindling government revenue. European Commission delegation Francesca Di Mauro said, no ACP country has formally asked for an alternative to EPA. Di Mauro stated that the extension of waiver will be costly and the best option would be to strive to conclude before December 31, 2007.
whose interest is Sata serving: Taiwani or Young zambians?
Chinese Investment in Africa and Implications for International Relations, Consolidation of Democracy and Respect for Human Rights: The Case of Zambia
By
Michael Chilufya Sata
President
Patriotic Front, Zambia
Paper presented to the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies Events Series, October 24, 2007, Harvard University, Cambridge, Boston, MA
Chinese Investment in Africa and Implications for International Relations, Consolidation of Democracy and Respect for Human Rights: The Case of Zambia
1.0 Introduction
Recent involvement of the People’s Republic of China in the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources has attracted worldwide attention and concern, especially to people within and outside the African continent interested in the social and economic advancement of the poorest continent on earth. The concern, debates and speculation are not without foundation, because with a population of 1.3 billion, China is the most populous nation in the world. It is also the largest country in the world in terms of physical size. The enormous human resource and physical size, cannot, however, generate adequate capital for quality investments at home and abroad. It is, therefore, not surprising that China has found it difficult to generate adequate capital since the end of its 1947-49 Civil War.
China’s recent march into Africa is by and large a search for natural resources, and especially oil, timber and base metals to guarantee survival for its people. This is critical to coerced internal stability and unity, as well as to ensuring that China remains a global power. As an investor in Africa, China is said to be the continent’s third largest investor, after the United States and France. This newly found economic power has enhanced China’s influence on the continent, and has a bearing on the conduct of international relations, especially in the 46 African countries that have diplomatic ties with China.
The increased clout of the People’s Republic of China in Africa has a bearing on consolidation of democracy and a culture of respect for human rights, because China does not subscribe to democracy and is inconsistent in upholding human rights at home. China also tends to ignore human rights abuses in developing countries in general, and in countries with which it has closer diplomatic ties in particular. The excuse for ignoring human rights abuses in other countries is China’s policy of “non interference” in the internal affairs of other countries, which basically amounts to appeasement of individual leaders of the countries concerned.
China’s increased clout in Africa has emerged at a time when the continent’s democratic evolution is at cross roads. Most African countries embraced democracy and open market economies only in the 1990s, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and end of the cold war. Progress towards consolidation of democracy and respect for human rights has been poor in most African countries, due to the narrow depth of internal democratic forces, and high levels of poverty. Most of the democratic concessions obtained in Africa in the 1990s were in fact obtained with the help of western governments, which relied on conditional economic support. Many African countries have, nevertheless, been trying to leave behind their brutal past of dictatorship, economic chaos and decline. Among the principle objectives of the African Union, for example, are promotion of democracy, good governance and respect for human rights. Under these circumstances, what are the implications of Chinese economic presence in Africa for international relations, consolidation of democracy, and respect for human rights? To address, these questions, we ought to examine Chinese policies towards Africa and its interaction with that continent. We should also bear in mind that poverty in Africa is pervasive, and has hardly spared any one, including the political leaders. The Chinese are aware of this, and are preying on the poverty of many African political leaders.
Background to Zambia
Zambia was called Northern Rhodesia when it was a British colony. It was granted independence on 24thOctober, 1964. After 8 years of multi-party democratic rule, the country descended into a One Party Socialist State, and changed for the worse, from one of the most promising middle-income African countries in the early 1970s, to one of the poorest in the world by the late 1980s. The country reverted to a free market economy and multi-party political system in 1991, after the wind of change that swept away the dictatorial regimes of Eastern Europe. Like many other African countries, however, Zambia has found it difficult to consolidate democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. In consequence, Zambia has also found it difficult to attract genuine investors and has become the prey of the rogue Chinese investors that have no regard for the welfare of those that are unfortunate enough to work for them, let alone the countries that have allowed them to exploit their natural resources and people.
Chinese Involvement in Africa
China declared support for some African liberation movements in 1965 in a bid to break its isolation orchestrated by the USA and the Soviet Union. Declaration of open support for the African liberation movements earned China recognition among some African countries. Many countries were, however, wary of China’s intentions, especially in the light of its governance of its so-called autonomous regions, such as Tibet, which are predominantly occupied by ethnic minorities, as well as its attitude towards the Republic of China (Taiwan). Rapprochement between the US and China in the early 1970s, however, resulted in China’s admission to the United Nations at the expense of Taiwan. This helped improve China’s image and enabled her to establish diplomatic relations with most African countries.
The Sino-African diplomatic relations are based on the so-called “one China policy”, which basically requires non-recognition and isolation of Taiwan. Most African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China have done so without adequate information about Taiwan. This is because China has employed cold war tactics of keeping them ignorant about Taiwan, while China trades and welcomes Taiwanese investment. Taiwan is, for example, China’s biggest trading partner, while Taiwan invested as much as US$6 billion in China in 2005 alone. Most diplomatic ties between China and many African countries have, therefore, been forged in ignorance on the part of the African countries. The one China policy, on the other hand, lacks diplomatic etiquette, as it does not reflect equality and mutual respect between China and Africa.
Sino-Zambia Relations
Diplomatic relations between China and Zambia were forged in the run up to Zambia’ independence, but were deepened by the western countries’ partial handling of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by the Smith regime in Rhodesia, on account of racial and blood ties. It was, however, the western countries’ refusal to help construct the Tanzania-Zambia Railway on account of protecting the interests of the white colonial settler regimes in Southern Africa that delivered Zambia into China’s sphere of influence. China took advantage and offered Zambia and Tanzania an interest free loan of One Hundred and Sixty Six (£166) Million British Pounds and undertook to construct the railway line. She also undertook to pick up any additional costs, should the actual cost exceed the estimated cost of the railway line. China also offered consumer goods to the two countries to help them raise funds to meet the local construction costs.
Construction of the Tanzania-Zambia railway begun in 1970 and was completed in 1975. Completion of the new railway line, however, coincided with an economic melt down in both Tanzania and Zambia. The economic melt down was due to rising oil prices against declining commodity prices; and poor economic management, as both countries had undertaken massive nationalization of large and medium size firms in their economies. Short- term economic stabilization programs provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) failed to halt the economic stagnation. Economic decline and decay thus set in. The economic deterioration in both countries was, in fact, so deep that, by 1982, the IMF advised a return to market economies in the two countries.
Zambia undertook the economic reforms without strong political will, which resulted in an “on and off” approach to the reforms. This approach delayed the economic turn around and damaged the economy further. The Government of Zambia courted China during the economic crisis, because it was considered an ideological ally. China, however, could not give any help. The economic crisis degenerated into a political crisis when the trade union movement and other social groups that had been cowed into silence, challenged the legitimacy of the one party state after the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Partial reform of the political system led to a return to a multi-party political system in 1991.
The first multi-party elections in 17 years were held in October 1991. They were won by the political movement, which advocated a multi-party political system and a free market economy. The new Government carried through most of the economic reforms within its first five years, but failed to build on the democratic gains of 1991. On the foreign policy front, the main change was the establishment and re-establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea and Israel respectively. Zambia’s diplomatic relations with China and other countries thus remained intact, while trade between Zambia and China like before remained low too.
Development cooperation between Zambia and China during Zambia’s economic crisis was confined to education and culture, health and defense. China never got involved in any significant efforts aimed at reviving the Zambian economy after the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. The Zambian Government did, however, contract China to construct two trunk roads, and invested in a textile plant in partnership with China. The latter was a feeble and belated attempt to diversify Zambia’s economy in the late 1980s. Issues of economic reform were, therefore, left entirely to the Government of Zambia and the international financial institutions (the IMF and the World Bank), as well as the western bilateral development agencies. Even when Zambia’s heavy foreign debt burden got out of hand at US$7 billion, China did not step in with any help. It was only after the international financial institutions and the western bilateral donors had come up with the Multi-lateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) that Zambia’s debts even to China could be forgiven.
In times when Zambia had policy disagreements with the international financial and western bilateral development agencies, however, and especially on governance and human rights issues, China stood out by providing dubious loans and grants mostly for consumption, and the impoverished defense and security services. China’s dubious assistance to Zambia enabled the Government to arrogantly stand its ground on serious governance and human rights issues. Chinese assistance, in particular, helped postpone Zambia’s constitution making to some other time in the future. Ten years down the line, Zambia is still tying to enact a new constitution that could meet the aspirations of its people, uphold human rights, and stand the test of time.
Chinese Investments in Zambia
Chinese direct investment in Zambia begun when the Government started to dispose of the firms it had previously nationalized. The Chinese acquired Chambishi Copper Mine and the Sinazeze Coal Mine. Due to corruption, the Chinese were given favorable terms, including generous tax exemptions for 15 years and even permission to export unprocessed ores to China. The tax exemptions had to be extended to the other mining companies that had acquired the other Copper mines, such as Glencore, First Quantum Minerals and Vendata Resources. Although the tax exemptions should have been reviewed in 2005, the Government grew cold feet, because of its close ties with the Chinese. As a result, the country and its people have not benefited from the recent high copper prices. The losses to the people of Zambia have been made worse by Government’s agreement to relieve the mining companies of responsibility for social services in the mining townships. As a result, most of the money from the exports of minerals is accruing to the mining companies, which tend to take out most of the money. Thus, Zambia has little to show for the high copper prices obtained over the last few years.
The amount of money China has invested in Zambia is often exaggerated, because it has mostly invested in already established mines. The only green investment was in an explosives factory, which was set-up for the sole purpose of supplying explosives to the two mines acquired by China. However, China has also promised to invest in the so-called Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and to construct a sports stadium on the Copperbelt. The Chinese investment in the two mines has been accompanied by medium and small-scale Chinese private investments, including traditional healers. The private Chinese investments have also been established with the assistance of the Chinese Government.
Chinese investments in Zambia have raised controversy on a number of counts. The large scale-mining and construction firms have created industrial disharmony, because of providing poor working conditions, which do not comply with the labour laws, environmental regulations and the occupational health and safety standards. They also pay “slave wages”. The Chinese investments have also created only a limited number of skilled and unskilled jobs for Zambians, because most technical and managerial positions, as well as a significant number of unskilled jobs are reserved for, and held by the Chinese workers, who have come along with the investment. The situation is worsened by disparities in wages paid to the Chinese and Zambian workers doing the same jobs, with the Chinese being paid substantially more. Similarly, the issuance of work permits in Zambia is now marred by discrimination, because whereas the Chinese firms can take into Zambia any number of Chinese workers they wish to take in, whether skilled or unskilled, the non-Chinese employers find it very difficult to obtain work permits even for very few skilled workers from other countries. Due to the favorable treatment given to the Chinese by the Immigration service, there are currently more than 80 000 Chinese nationals in Zambia.
Exclusion of Zambians from technical and managerial jobs denies qualified people employment opportunities in their own country, while the unskilled Chinese workers have taken away employment from their unskilled Zambian counterparts. Many Zambians cannot understand why unskilled workers from China should take away employment opportunities from their Zambian counterparts, in the face of very high unemployment levels, estimated at more than 70%. The Chinese investment in Zambia is therefore more beneficial to China than Zambia. The Chinese investment in Zambia also provides China with the natural resources at very low cost and jobs for its surplus labour. The situation is worsened by China’s preference to export copper ores from Zambia to China, which entails transfer of more jobs to China and further reduction of Zambia’s income from its minerals, while at the same time undermining prospects for industrialization and technology transfer to Zambia.
Chinese investors have also been violating the labour laws, environmental regulations, and occupational health and safety standards with impunity, because the Zambian Government shields them from the regulatory bodies. It also ignores very serious reports of abuse of Zambian workers by their Chinese superiors. Failure to observe the occupational health standards at the Chinese government owned explosives factory even resulted in the death of 50 Zambian casual workers, in an explosion that destroyed the entire plant, but in which not a single Chinese life was lost. Many questions surrounding the death of the 50 Zambians workers at the Chinese explosives factory to this day remain unanswered.
Zambia’s failure to curb the violation of industrial and labor laws can be attributed to the overbearing influence of the Chinese Government on its Zambian counterpart, through provision of generous gifts to the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and the powers that be. An editorial comment in an increasingly pro-Government private newspaper, for example, observed that:
“It cannot be denied that some of our investors are treated with kid’s gloves. They are over-protected. And that is why they have the audacity to ignore the laws because they know that, after all, nothing will be done against them.”(The Post, Wednesday 3rd October 2007, p.26)
The situation is, however, unlikely to improve, because the Chinese Government continues to relate to the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, like it were the only political party in the country, and as if Zambia was still a one party state.
Chinese private investment has also brought into Zambia unfair competition. The Chinese traders, for example, sell cheap low quality products from China ranging from clothes to electronic household goods, which do not meet the local standards for various products. The garments, for example, wear out after being washed once, but they cost substantially less, and uninformed poor people, buy such garments at the expense of stronger locally made garments. Such trading activities are killing the local industry and taking away livelihoods from local people, such as tailors and traders selling better quality garments, not to mention the textile firms, most of which have collapsed not only in Zambia, but in Southern African region as a whole. The entry of Chinese traders in the micro enterprise sector has also worsened competition in an already over-crowded informal economy, which supports the bulk of the labor force.
Chinese investment in Zambia has also brought in Chinese business cartels in which the large-scale Chinese firms only source supplies from the Chinese suppliers. Such restrictive business practices are denying Zambian suppliers not only business opportunities, but livelihoods. The private investors from the People’s Republic of China also have “an unfair advantage” over their competitors in Zambia, because they have access to generous Chinese Government loans and grants provided only to Chinese nationals and enterprises through the Bank of China, which has opened branches in Lusaka and the Copperbelt. Zambians in business of all sizes, on the other hand, have no access to any such generous financial services. Lack of access to finance is in fact the main constraints to the participation of Zambians in the economy of their country. Zambians, therefore seem condemned to exploitation by the emerging Chinese entrepreneurs, who have access to generous Chinese Government loans and exclusive business opportunities from the Chinese enterprises in Zambia.
China’s African Policy
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the China African policy in 2006. It is an update of China’s foreign policy towards Africa in the 21st century and beyond. The China African policy is, however, not futuristic, because it is stooped in the past on issues of democracy, good governance and respect for human rights, as well on “outstanding cold war political conflicts”. The China African policy also seeks to bring China to the same level as the more developed countries in its economic dealings with the African continent. The China African policy is stooped in the past, because it is built on the Chinese Communist Party’s desire to bring all the lands that were once under imperial China under its rule. Little consideration has, for example, been accorded to peaceful co-existence with Taiwan and to the right to self-determination for its people. To avoid a democratic resolution of the Taiwan question, China seeks to retain the “existing global status quo”. Being content with the status quo, however, ignores the profound changes that have taken place and that ought to take place, especially in Africa, for the Africans to step on the ladder of sustainable development.
The China African policy is also not in line with the democratic aspirations of the Africans, because whereas the Africans have recognized absence of democracy and respect for human rights as the major contributing factors to their continent’s lagging behind the rest of the world, China is yet to accept that. For example, while Articles 3 and 4 of the African Union (AU) mandates the African Union to promote democracy, good governance and protection of human rights, as well as to intervene in member states on account of human rights violation, genocide or even to restore order, China still advocates non-interference in the affairs of other countries. As a result, instead of a pledge to cooperate with African countries in the promotion and protection of human rights, China only pledges:
“…to continue to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with African countries …on major international and regional issues and stand for mutual support on major issues concerning state sovereignty; territorial integrity, national dignity and human rights” (Government of the Peoples’ Republic of China, 2006, p.9).
China is not even interested in the governance and human rights records of its partners in Africa and indeed elsewhere. On the basis of the China African policy, it is clear that, China is not interested in advancing democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Conclusions
The growing influence of China in Africa through its direct investment and provision of loans and grants to governments is a risk to consolidation of democracy and a culture of respect for human rights, because China does not subscribe to these values. China, in particular, perceives human rights as contentious ideological issues between the more advanced countries and the undemocratic regimes in the Third World. China’s attraction to Africa is not an accident, because it is the most populous nation on earth, while Africa is the least densely populated continent. Africa also has enormous natural resources in its soils and forests, which are attractive to a rapidly growing and aggressive China. For the Chinese, therefore, Africa is a mere source of essential natural resources and a potential area of resettlement for its surplus population. The Africans, therefore, ought to engage with China in a more intelligent manner than most are willing to do.
The development of Africa and its people cannot be achieved on the basis of designs and strategies of other people. The Africans ought to take responsibility and protect their heritage and the future of those yet to come. It is, therefore, critical for African countries to review their engagement with China. The foreign policies of African countries should be based on the universal values of democracy, good governance, protection and respect for human rights. A human rights approach to policy formulation in Africa would guarantee human dignity and peace. It is for this reason that, the Patriotic Front in Zambia finds it more prudent to cultivate relations with Taiwan, a democracy and a more advanced country than China, which can provide high quality investment and more equitable trading opportunities.
In comparative terms, Zambia’s experience with Chinese investment is much closer to Africa’s experience during the mercantilist period, which culminated in the enslavement of its people. European colonial exploitation in comparison to Chinese exploitation appear more benign, because even though the commercial exploitation was just as bad, the colonial agents also invested in social and economic infrastructure and services, such as roads, education and health services, particularly through the Christian Missionaries. Investment in education helped nurture the natural yearning for freedom and human dignity, which culminated in the provision of leaders for the African freedom struggles. Chinese investment, on the other hand, is focused on taking out of Africa as much as can be taken out, without any regard to the welfare of the local people. Africa may have barely survived the last 500 years, but it has consistently fought for human dignity. Just as the Africans rejected European exploitation, oppression and dehumanization, there is no doubt that Chinese exploitation and domination will be rejected too.
can young people manage running political parties?
State Funding of Political Parties: Why the Controversy?
The nature and modality of political party financing is possibly one of the most challenging aspects of the contemporary African political system. However, in Zambia, the problem of party funding seems more pronounced mainly due to lack of the institutionalisation of the legal party funding system and widespread poverty that exists in the country, which make people not only unable to make regular contributions to their political parties, but also particularly susceptible to bribery and corruption. Certainly, political party financing is very vital because money is needed to pay for logistics, publicity, cover campaign costs and day to day costs of running a party.
Ironically, political parties in Zambia, like in any other country in Africa experience a general problem of funding. Funding for the operations of these entities comes from different avenues, such as private sector, foreign friends, multinational corporations, or from government to government on bilateral bases. As Dr Neo Simutanyi puts it, most political parties outside the ruling party in Zambia depend on private funding, which constrains their operations mainly due to lack of resources for smooth operations. Besides depending on private funding, they engage in other miscellaneous resourceful ventures including membership card sales, individual and corporate donations and fundraising activities, such as braiis, dinners, golf tournaments, and sale of T-shirts, chitenge clothes with party slogans and mottos among others.
However, membership card sales and private donations are the largest source of party funding in Zambia. Membership card sales are however unreliable, not only because the membership dues are quite low (sometimes as low as K4000 or $1.0), but because often the funds are pocketed and not properly accounted for. In any case the amounts are so negligible as to make any meaningful contributions to a party’s operational budget.
According to Mphaisha, “it is important to note that private donations are the most significant in terms of meeting the direct costs of running and managing party affairs.” Senior party officials, such as the party president, vice and senior members of the executive routinely contribute to party coffers. Members of Parliament are also requested by their parties to contribute to the running costs of the parties. There are also donations from well-wishers. The problem with most, if not all private donations is that they are rarely publicly disclosed nor properly accounted for. The argument is that disclosing the identity of contributors will expose them to political intimidation, especially if they support the opposition or will compromise their integrity if they support both the incumbent party and the opposition.
Private funding in Zambia is rare because most citizens are not in employment. Thus fewer Zambians are able and willing to make regular contributions to party activities. This has left political parties at the mercy of few and powerful individuals. It is because of the narrow funding sources of political parties and the potential of being hijacked by powerful interests that some people have advocated for public funding of political parties.
Considering the costly nature of funding political parties, some quarters of society have proposed for state funding of these entities from government coffers. However, Van de Walle notes that such a move has caused endless debates in Ghana by opponents of state funding notion who have argued that if political parties rely on state funding, they will renege on their attempt to bond with civil society and their well wishers. In that case, the whole democratization exercise would be defeated. This means that such state funded political parties will be divorced from civil society and the electorate. It is also argued that opposition parties will be less interested in representing and fulfilling the needs of the citizenry and there will be a reduced passion for the opposition parties to actively be involved in the democratic process.
Secondly anti-funding notion Ghanaians argue that when the state funds political parties, it will decrease the internal democratic processes in the parties. This is based on the view that when the political parties have sufficient funds from the state coffers, they would rather buy services they need for the survival and smooth operations of the party other than to seek the services from their own members, which hitherto would have increased a sense of belonging towards the party and what it stands for. The actual role of the opposition of acting as the watchdog and provider of checks and balances will be forfeited. All parties will operate in the capacity of the state-owned enterprises that depend on state subsidies for survival and operations, and as result they will fail to play the overseer role over government. In such an environment, things like transparency and accountability in leadership and allocation of resources will be compromised to the extent that the country’s development level will be too minimal to register economic sustainability. It is only a known fact that human beings pay allegiance to those who sustain their daily living or operations at any level of life, be it individual or entity, thus opposition parties will pay homage to the state rather than the citizens.
Further, Ghanaian tax-payers argue that funding political parties would lead to the proliferation of parties without actual action plans that would be of benefit to the citizenry. Ghanaians political commentator, Appiah Kusi Adomako argues that since not all parties in the early stages of a democratic state have survived, funding all parties in the early democratization process will invariably increase the unneeded lifespan of parties that have no business in the democracy dispensation and that are of no significant meaning to the electorate.
In short, the life of all the zombie parties will be prolonged at a cost to everyone and at a profit to none. Additionally, anti-funding campaigners like the Norwegian front-line campaigner organisation calls it “party-entrepreneurs” which would spring up from all places, and then the whole democratization process would become an open market for all sorts of “party entrepreneurs” who want to join the “business”. This would mean whoever fails to sustain a living outside politics would just come up with a political enterprise and use the existing law on funding political parties to get the funds and abuse it for personal gains.
As Appiah Kusi Adomako exemplifies, in the 1992 general elections, in Ghana, one of the parties that contested in the election was the National Independence Party (NIP) led by Kwabena Darko. This party since that election has gone into extinction, and if such a party had received state funding it would have had a prolonged life span on the democratic scene even when it had no ultimate offer to the people of Ghana. This kind of masquerading and politicking led many democratic policymakers and observers to conclude that state-funding is not just unproductive, but counter-unproductive and unbeneficial to the democratic process. The political analyst states that arguments by the pro-movement for state funding that it curbs corruption does not hold water because if political parties are still going to be free to raise private funds, then there still will be party contributors who will still demand for contracts whether or not there was state funding available. They must recoup their “investment” either way.
The other argument is that political parties are an integral part of democracy so they should be funded also when they fall short. But this would mean funding all entities under the umbrella of democracy, such as The Media, Non Government Organisations, civil society and even businesses and corporations which are also parts of the democratic process. The issue that becomes of contention is the source of funds to meet all those diverse avenues of democracy. It is also argued that workers at political party offices and their field officers are not state employees, so there is no need for the state pay their salaries. The other concern raised by anti-state party funding campaigners is on what happens to independent candidates when political parties are funded by the state since they are also part of the process. They concluded that if they are also funded, then it really becomes a whole market as was first stated.
Sartori states that although political parties in Britain are funded by contributions from their membership, individuals and organizations which share their political ideas or who stand to benefit from their activities take the leading role in their funding. Sartori further states that political parties and factions especially those in government, are lobbied vigorously by organizations, businesses and special interest groups such as trades unions for funds in turn for certain benefits if the parties won the elections. Money and gifts to a party by well-wishers are often offered as incentives. In the United Kingdom, it has been alleged that peerages (interest groups) are awarded to contracts to contribute party funds for the benefit of becoming members of the Upper House of Parliament and thus being in a position to participate in the legislative process.
The United Kingdom tried to put laws to prevent such corruption in future by making gifts from peerages and similar honours became a criminal act, but some benefactors attempted to circumvent this by cloaking their contributions as loans, giving rise to the 'Cash for Peerages' scandal. Such activities have given rise to demands that the scale of donations should be capped. As the costs of electioneering escalate, so the demands made on party funds increases.
In the similar exposé, Nelson Chamisa argues that the sponsoring of political parties has seen the formation of private companies from the funds that were meant to meet party affairs. Mr. Chamisa cites the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Zimbabwe under the Morgan Tsvangirai faction which is under the spotlight following the registration of a company, Movement for Democratic Change Limited, in Britain under unclear circumstances. This entails that personal motives has taken over the duty to serve the public and electorates. This implies that the funding would lead to the emergence of private companies whose interest will be accumulate profit for their owners who acquire the capital in the name of political parties.
Tax payers’ money will thus be used to enrich individuals at the expense of national development and the provision of public services that would better the lives of the people in the country which could be plummeting. Poverty levels in the country would increase as resources will be spent on politics rather than elevating lives of the citizenry. It is for these reasons that some people have argued that there was need to separate politics from economics so that while politicians’ politicking does not hamper national development as it is case at the moment.
A lot of time and resources are spent on political issues and processes that would have enhanced economic growth in the world at large. Political interests for example have diverted people’s attention or frustrated progress because they fear that if certain changes are made either in the law or in the political sphere, their influence on both economic and social matters would be reduced. Transparent International President (TIZ), Reuben Lifuka cites the diversion of the mode of enacting a new constitution by the government of the Republic of Zambia from Constituency Assembly (CA) to National Constitution Conference (NCC). Mr. Lifuka argues that a lot of funds and man-hours have been lost debating on the weaknesses of NCC instead of looking at real economic issues that needed both financial and human resources attention like the influx of street children and unemployment, among others.
The TIZ president said political parties have not contributed positively to the debate as they have kept on changing positions depending on the kind of favour they need at a given time. “When it is time for a by-election or any event that called for the participation of electorates like voting, politicians spoke the language of the electorates or advocates of change for them to gain favour from the public,” Mr Lifuka added. “They have swung from one end of the pendulum to the other based on the where the winds of self aggrandizement push them.” This means if political parties were to be funded, more parties would be formed without any programme that adds value to people’s lives.
Mr Lifuka argued that what has attracted most politicians into the NCC debate was the fact the most of the clauses in the Act empowers the political sphere as they are the majority in terms of representative openings. “Being that most of the decisions during the deliberations will be reached at through the majority vote, politicians know it will be to their advantage as they all will be in their favour,” said the TIZ president. Mr Lifuka argued that if anything, there was need to reduce the number of political parties to avoid the split of votes and confusing electorates with too many views on national matters which has not been healthy to progress in many issues of life.
Mr Lifuka also argues that there has been serious theft of professionals from the economy into the political sphere in world over. “Politics steal the much needed human resources from key economic avenues by providing them with attractive salaries and other incentives thus leaving big gaps in the economy that are difficult to fill especially in scenarios where the size of the skilled workforce is very small,” he said. This brain drain has been the biggest vice in areas like education and health.
For example, lecturers and medical doctors have been given senior positions in government leaving serious human resource shortfalls in key developmental area in the economy. And funding political parties may force many professionals to quit their professionals and venture into areas where they can easily get capital to start private companies. This would cause serious economic chaos in Zambia where wages for most workers are very poor. They would rash into avenues that offer better life the easy way. The economies would suffer and poverty levels would worsen.
This can be worse in situations where the law is slackened and the legal system is corrupted because those who abuse or misuse funds meant for political parties would go scout free. Mr Lifuka argues that in countries like Zambia where the law is silent on political corruption, funding political parties will be perpetuating gross corruption or embezzlement. “It is just unworthy trying,” Mr Lifuka concluded.
In countries where funding National Budgets is already a very big problem, diverting resources to the funding of political parties would ‘milk’ the budget a lot of funds. Politicians are politicians regardless of their size in number, in fact, the less the better because that will save people the saturation of their listening ability to diverse political rhetoric. It is better resources are spent on developmental programmes than on politicking. Parties with funding problems can as well close up and join those that are functional.
In the final analysis, it is clear that funding political parties has been done for personal gain rather than serving the electorates. Sponsors of these entities have done so to gain entry into a particular country’s economic spheres to extract its natural resources. Initiators’ selfishness has always led to the use of force to obtain what they need as the way of paying back. Tax payers’ money cannot be left for abuse by the few individuals at the expense of national development and the suffering majority from severe hunger and extreme poverty affliction.
The nature and modality of political party financing is possibly one of the most challenging aspects of the contemporary African political system. However, in Zambia, the problem of party funding seems more pronounced mainly due to lack of the institutionalisation of the legal party funding system and widespread poverty that exists in the country, which make people not only unable to make regular contributions to their political parties, but also particularly susceptible to bribery and corruption. Certainly, political party financing is very vital because money is needed to pay for logistics, publicity, cover campaign costs and day to day costs of running a party.
Ironically, political parties in Zambia, like in any other country in Africa experience a general problem of funding. Funding for the operations of these entities comes from different avenues, such as private sector, foreign friends, multinational corporations, or from government to government on bilateral bases. As Dr Neo Simutanyi puts it, most political parties outside the ruling party in Zambia depend on private funding, which constrains their operations mainly due to lack of resources for smooth operations. Besides depending on private funding, they engage in other miscellaneous resourceful ventures including membership card sales, individual and corporate donations and fundraising activities, such as braiis, dinners, golf tournaments, and sale of T-shirts, chitenge clothes with party slogans and mottos among others.
However, membership card sales and private donations are the largest source of party funding in Zambia. Membership card sales are however unreliable, not only because the membership dues are quite low (sometimes as low as K4000 or $1.0), but because often the funds are pocketed and not properly accounted for. In any case the amounts are so negligible as to make any meaningful contributions to a party’s operational budget.
According to Mphaisha, “it is important to note that private donations are the most significant in terms of meeting the direct costs of running and managing party affairs.” Senior party officials, such as the party president, vice and senior members of the executive routinely contribute to party coffers. Members of Parliament are also requested by their parties to contribute to the running costs of the parties. There are also donations from well-wishers. The problem with most, if not all private donations is that they are rarely publicly disclosed nor properly accounted for. The argument is that disclosing the identity of contributors will expose them to political intimidation, especially if they support the opposition or will compromise their integrity if they support both the incumbent party and the opposition.
Private funding in Zambia is rare because most citizens are not in employment. Thus fewer Zambians are able and willing to make regular contributions to party activities. This has left political parties at the mercy of few and powerful individuals. It is because of the narrow funding sources of political parties and the potential of being hijacked by powerful interests that some people have advocated for public funding of political parties.
Considering the costly nature of funding political parties, some quarters of society have proposed for state funding of these entities from government coffers. However, Van de Walle notes that such a move has caused endless debates in Ghana by opponents of state funding notion who have argued that if political parties rely on state funding, they will renege on their attempt to bond with civil society and their well wishers. In that case, the whole democratization exercise would be defeated. This means that such state funded political parties will be divorced from civil society and the electorate. It is also argued that opposition parties will be less interested in representing and fulfilling the needs of the citizenry and there will be a reduced passion for the opposition parties to actively be involved in the democratic process.
Secondly anti-funding notion Ghanaians argue that when the state funds political parties, it will decrease the internal democratic processes in the parties. This is based on the view that when the political parties have sufficient funds from the state coffers, they would rather buy services they need for the survival and smooth operations of the party other than to seek the services from their own members, which hitherto would have increased a sense of belonging towards the party and what it stands for. The actual role of the opposition of acting as the watchdog and provider of checks and balances will be forfeited. All parties will operate in the capacity of the state-owned enterprises that depend on state subsidies for survival and operations, and as result they will fail to play the overseer role over government. In such an environment, things like transparency and accountability in leadership and allocation of resources will be compromised to the extent that the country’s development level will be too minimal to register economic sustainability. It is only a known fact that human beings pay allegiance to those who sustain their daily living or operations at any level of life, be it individual or entity, thus opposition parties will pay homage to the state rather than the citizens.
Further, Ghanaian tax-payers argue that funding political parties would lead to the proliferation of parties without actual action plans that would be of benefit to the citizenry. Ghanaians political commentator, Appiah Kusi Adomako argues that since not all parties in the early stages of a democratic state have survived, funding all parties in the early democratization process will invariably increase the unneeded lifespan of parties that have no business in the democracy dispensation and that are of no significant meaning to the electorate.
In short, the life of all the zombie parties will be prolonged at a cost to everyone and at a profit to none. Additionally, anti-funding campaigners like the Norwegian front-line campaigner organisation calls it “party-entrepreneurs” which would spring up from all places, and then the whole democratization process would become an open market for all sorts of “party entrepreneurs” who want to join the “business”. This would mean whoever fails to sustain a living outside politics would just come up with a political enterprise and use the existing law on funding political parties to get the funds and abuse it for personal gains.
As Appiah Kusi Adomako exemplifies, in the 1992 general elections, in Ghana, one of the parties that contested in the election was the National Independence Party (NIP) led by Kwabena Darko. This party since that election has gone into extinction, and if such a party had received state funding it would have had a prolonged life span on the democratic scene even when it had no ultimate offer to the people of Ghana. This kind of masquerading and politicking led many democratic policymakers and observers to conclude that state-funding is not just unproductive, but counter-unproductive and unbeneficial to the democratic process. The political analyst states that arguments by the pro-movement for state funding that it curbs corruption does not hold water because if political parties are still going to be free to raise private funds, then there still will be party contributors who will still demand for contracts whether or not there was state funding available. They must recoup their “investment” either way.
The other argument is that political parties are an integral part of democracy so they should be funded also when they fall short. But this would mean funding all entities under the umbrella of democracy, such as The Media, Non Government Organisations, civil society and even businesses and corporations which are also parts of the democratic process. The issue that becomes of contention is the source of funds to meet all those diverse avenues of democracy. It is also argued that workers at political party offices and their field officers are not state employees, so there is no need for the state pay their salaries. The other concern raised by anti-state party funding campaigners is on what happens to independent candidates when political parties are funded by the state since they are also part of the process. They concluded that if they are also funded, then it really becomes a whole market as was first stated.
Sartori states that although political parties in Britain are funded by contributions from their membership, individuals and organizations which share their political ideas or who stand to benefit from their activities take the leading role in their funding. Sartori further states that political parties and factions especially those in government, are lobbied vigorously by organizations, businesses and special interest groups such as trades unions for funds in turn for certain benefits if the parties won the elections. Money and gifts to a party by well-wishers are often offered as incentives. In the United Kingdom, it has been alleged that peerages (interest groups) are awarded to contracts to contribute party funds for the benefit of becoming members of the Upper House of Parliament and thus being in a position to participate in the legislative process.
The United Kingdom tried to put laws to prevent such corruption in future by making gifts from peerages and similar honours became a criminal act, but some benefactors attempted to circumvent this by cloaking their contributions as loans, giving rise to the 'Cash for Peerages' scandal. Such activities have given rise to demands that the scale of donations should be capped. As the costs of electioneering escalate, so the demands made on party funds increases.
In the similar exposé, Nelson Chamisa argues that the sponsoring of political parties has seen the formation of private companies from the funds that were meant to meet party affairs. Mr. Chamisa cites the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Zimbabwe under the Morgan Tsvangirai faction which is under the spotlight following the registration of a company, Movement for Democratic Change Limited, in Britain under unclear circumstances. This entails that personal motives has taken over the duty to serve the public and electorates. This implies that the funding would lead to the emergence of private companies whose interest will be accumulate profit for their owners who acquire the capital in the name of political parties.
Tax payers’ money will thus be used to enrich individuals at the expense of national development and the provision of public services that would better the lives of the people in the country which could be plummeting. Poverty levels in the country would increase as resources will be spent on politics rather than elevating lives of the citizenry. It is for these reasons that some people have argued that there was need to separate politics from economics so that while politicians’ politicking does not hamper national development as it is case at the moment.
A lot of time and resources are spent on political issues and processes that would have enhanced economic growth in the world at large. Political interests for example have diverted people’s attention or frustrated progress because they fear that if certain changes are made either in the law or in the political sphere, their influence on both economic and social matters would be reduced. Transparent International President (TIZ), Reuben Lifuka cites the diversion of the mode of enacting a new constitution by the government of the Republic of Zambia from Constituency Assembly (CA) to National Constitution Conference (NCC). Mr. Lifuka argues that a lot of funds and man-hours have been lost debating on the weaknesses of NCC instead of looking at real economic issues that needed both financial and human resources attention like the influx of street children and unemployment, among others.
The TIZ president said political parties have not contributed positively to the debate as they have kept on changing positions depending on the kind of favour they need at a given time. “When it is time for a by-election or any event that called for the participation of electorates like voting, politicians spoke the language of the electorates or advocates of change for them to gain favour from the public,” Mr Lifuka added. “They have swung from one end of the pendulum to the other based on the where the winds of self aggrandizement push them.” This means if political parties were to be funded, more parties would be formed without any programme that adds value to people’s lives.
Mr Lifuka argued that what has attracted most politicians into the NCC debate was the fact the most of the clauses in the Act empowers the political sphere as they are the majority in terms of representative openings. “Being that most of the decisions during the deliberations will be reached at through the majority vote, politicians know it will be to their advantage as they all will be in their favour,” said the TIZ president. Mr Lifuka argued that if anything, there was need to reduce the number of political parties to avoid the split of votes and confusing electorates with too many views on national matters which has not been healthy to progress in many issues of life.
Mr Lifuka also argues that there has been serious theft of professionals from the economy into the political sphere in world over. “Politics steal the much needed human resources from key economic avenues by providing them with attractive salaries and other incentives thus leaving big gaps in the economy that are difficult to fill especially in scenarios where the size of the skilled workforce is very small,” he said. This brain drain has been the biggest vice in areas like education and health.
For example, lecturers and medical doctors have been given senior positions in government leaving serious human resource shortfalls in key developmental area in the economy. And funding political parties may force many professionals to quit their professionals and venture into areas where they can easily get capital to start private companies. This would cause serious economic chaos in Zambia where wages for most workers are very poor. They would rash into avenues that offer better life the easy way. The economies would suffer and poverty levels would worsen.
This can be worse in situations where the law is slackened and the legal system is corrupted because those who abuse or misuse funds meant for political parties would go scout free. Mr Lifuka argues that in countries like Zambia where the law is silent on political corruption, funding political parties will be perpetuating gross corruption or embezzlement. “It is just unworthy trying,” Mr Lifuka concluded.
In countries where funding National Budgets is already a very big problem, diverting resources to the funding of political parties would ‘milk’ the budget a lot of funds. Politicians are politicians regardless of their size in number, in fact, the less the better because that will save people the saturation of their listening ability to diverse political rhetoric. It is better resources are spent on developmental programmes than on politicking. Parties with funding problems can as well close up and join those that are functional.
In the final analysis, it is clear that funding political parties has been done for personal gain rather than serving the electorates. Sponsors of these entities have done so to gain entry into a particular country’s economic spheres to extract its natural resources. Initiators’ selfishness has always led to the use of force to obtain what they need as the way of paying back. Tax payers’ money cannot be left for abuse by the few individuals at the expense of national development and the suffering majority from severe hunger and extreme poverty affliction.
foreign investment: whose interest, the youths or oldfolk?
“We have attempted to seek government support over these heartless Chinese investors who think human life can be compensated with as little as bags of mealie-meal or few funeral emoluments in times of death, but no assistance has come forth. We are paid surviving wages. Some wages cannot even buy a minister’s pair of shoes. Our trade unions have failed to defend the dignity of the Zambian labour. And Chinese job seekers under the auspices of investors have taken advantage of it. They are abusing our rights, but nobody seems to care,” lamented a Mr Banda.
Whose interest is being promoted here; the young people or those who want to eat now and leave the rest wallowing in abject poverty? Are the leaders concerned with the welfare of their children or future leaders as they call them? Future or current leaders?
This provocative quotation provides an entry-point into ascertaining the relationship between the Zambian government and its citizens vis-à-vis foreign investment. The perception of Mr Banda might ring many bells in people’s heads. In trying to address some of the concerns like those of Mr Banda, the Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) organised a public hearing dubbed; “What have we learnt about foreign investment? Does it matter where it comes from?”
As protocol commands it, EAZ gave the floor to a government official to give the view of the state to some investor-worker concerns that trouble many Zambians’ minds as they eke for survival under difficult situations.
Representing government, permanent secretary (PS) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Davidson Chilipamushi urged the people to stop lamenting about investment from certain countries as all investor regardless of where they come from are driven by the self interest of sustaining their economies. “And what is our interest? Is it not creating employment and wealth?” wondered Mr Chilipamushi.
“It is to everybody’s knowledge that poverty levels have been increasing in the country despite the current 7% economic growth estimates. In this sense, foreign investment is required irrespective of where it comes from.”
To this end, the PS said it was for government to ensure that there was a legal framework in place that would oblige investors to respect human rights as they conduct their business. And the PS said government was revising the labour laws to ensure that investors were in possession of an investor law book and investor policy before they were allowed to start any investment.
Mr Chilipamushi argued that although the issue has been on China, investors from other countries that are exhorted so high are equally paying Zambians merger salaries. He added that the trend has been set by local investors who were seriously mistreating their employees be it in farms of homes. “How much do local investors pay their farm workers and maidservants? Isn’t it just the same poor wages that are condemned on a daily?” Mr Chilipamushi questioned.
He castigated Zambian employers who were blaming Chinese investors for paying ‘slavery’ wages to their employees while even them paid the maidservants and garden boys the same. “Let us put our house in order for investors to have an example to follow. We need to set standards before telling others to pay us well because we have set a bad precedent.”
In a similar expose, Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president, Leonard Hikaumba admitted that the union has not done enough to protect workers’ rights because government often protected the investors.
“Government always argues that investors will leave if the labour laws are more stringent on them. This so called enabling environment end up relaxing the labour laws, and thus unionists become toothless,” Mr Hikaumba said.
Following the PS’ blame on local employers abusing their fellow Zambians, the ZCTU leader said the problem has been perpetuated by Zambians themselves as they have failed to recognize the quality of work provided by their colleagues as worthy paying reasonable wages.
Against this condemnation of few Zambians, a Lusaka lawyer Winter Kabimba said the justification that because X is defecting the law then Y should do the same was a sign of failure to manage issues in the country by those entrusted to do so.
Mr Kabimba wondered why Zambian employers should be obliged to pay workers better than foreign investors who were enjoying tax reverts and other incentives.
Whose interest is being promoted here; the young people or those who want to eat now and leave the rest wallowing in abject poverty? Are the leaders concerned with the welfare of their children or future leaders as they call them? Future or current leaders?
This provocative quotation provides an entry-point into ascertaining the relationship between the Zambian government and its citizens vis-à-vis foreign investment. The perception of Mr Banda might ring many bells in people’s heads. In trying to address some of the concerns like those of Mr Banda, the Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) organised a public hearing dubbed; “What have we learnt about foreign investment? Does it matter where it comes from?”
As protocol commands it, EAZ gave the floor to a government official to give the view of the state to some investor-worker concerns that trouble many Zambians’ minds as they eke for survival under difficult situations.
Representing government, permanent secretary (PS) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Davidson Chilipamushi urged the people to stop lamenting about investment from certain countries as all investor regardless of where they come from are driven by the self interest of sustaining their economies. “And what is our interest? Is it not creating employment and wealth?” wondered Mr Chilipamushi.
“It is to everybody’s knowledge that poverty levels have been increasing in the country despite the current 7% economic growth estimates. In this sense, foreign investment is required irrespective of where it comes from.”
To this end, the PS said it was for government to ensure that there was a legal framework in place that would oblige investors to respect human rights as they conduct their business. And the PS said government was revising the labour laws to ensure that investors were in possession of an investor law book and investor policy before they were allowed to start any investment.
Mr Chilipamushi argued that although the issue has been on China, investors from other countries that are exhorted so high are equally paying Zambians merger salaries. He added that the trend has been set by local investors who were seriously mistreating their employees be it in farms of homes. “How much do local investors pay their farm workers and maidservants? Isn’t it just the same poor wages that are condemned on a daily?” Mr Chilipamushi questioned.
He castigated Zambian employers who were blaming Chinese investors for paying ‘slavery’ wages to their employees while even them paid the maidservants and garden boys the same. “Let us put our house in order for investors to have an example to follow. We need to set standards before telling others to pay us well because we have set a bad precedent.”
In a similar expose, Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president, Leonard Hikaumba admitted that the union has not done enough to protect workers’ rights because government often protected the investors.
“Government always argues that investors will leave if the labour laws are more stringent on them. This so called enabling environment end up relaxing the labour laws, and thus unionists become toothless,” Mr Hikaumba said.
Following the PS’ blame on local employers abusing their fellow Zambians, the ZCTU leader said the problem has been perpetuated by Zambians themselves as they have failed to recognize the quality of work provided by their colleagues as worthy paying reasonable wages.
Against this condemnation of few Zambians, a Lusaka lawyer Winter Kabimba said the justification that because X is defecting the law then Y should do the same was a sign of failure to manage issues in the country by those entrusted to do so.
Mr Kabimba wondered why Zambian employers should be obliged to pay workers better than foreign investors who were enjoying tax reverts and other incentives.
DO YOUNG PEOPLE UNDERSTAND BOXING
Ester vs. Laracuente: why the debate?
“I didn’t deserve to lose the fight” argued the United States of America’s Belinda Laracuente to the media shortly before departure to her home country.
But the judges declared Ester Phiri winner of the hardest fight the Zambian fighter has ever engaged into. Then why the controversy? Was Laraucuete just embarrassed that she flew all the way to lose on point split basis? Was there something odd with the judgment?
Probably psychologically yes Laracuente won, but technically no. Laraucuete knows how to play with the mental or psychic of Ester that she nearly lost the stamina in the sport.
Psychologists say ‘whatever your mind conceives, you can achieve.’ But what happens when you are working under psychological defeat? You blander!
The American boxer capitalized on her past fights that she won to confuse and defeat Ester in the mind. Considering the number of fights she has taken so far, and how many she as won, Ester took it that she would be next to fall.
Ester did not realize that she was a different boxer herself. A boxer with different approach and stamina. She allowed Laraucuete to prostitute her mind with her past wins.
Probably the fight was the worst to Ester where the opponent was making funny of her even in the ring. Adrenaline would have increased as she looked for an opening for her to square Laraucuete a knock out that would have probably taken her to the ground.
She ended up throwing punches any how, and she got tired. If Ester was prepared psychologically, she would have given a better fight than the one which has put her boxing career into question and her win debatable.
Take Peter in the Bible for instance; when he saw Jesus walking on water, he first believed he could do it.
He stepped onto the water and there he was walking. But immediately doubt came into his mind, he drowned.
Ester needs psychological training or preparation in her coming fights. Her trainers should not look at it in terms of losing money which would have been theirs because her wins benefits them as well. Equally, the day she will lose they will share the loss.
It is now to take a step or she will always be in for it. The tension would be worse when it comes to fights outside the country as she will have no morale boosters. This coupled with mental defeat; she may end her career on a bad note.
One would wonder what was running in Ester’s mind to be exposed to such kind of ridicule or psychological mockery in the ring.
Looking at how Laraucuete kept on dribbling her mind mental faculty, she would have even regretted why she entered the ring to go through that mental torturing boxer.
They say if you can’t defeat them confuse them, and Ester was at to the American in the ring at the Woodlands stadium.
Anyway, it seems it was not Ester alone. Her sponsors and supporters like went through the same mental asunder.
“They should check that boxer nicely, ‘she’ should be a man,” commented some spectators as Laraucuete bounced into the ring doing her lingerie. Some did not want to watch the fight; they preferred hearing about it on the media.
The judges seem to have been equally unsure of what to do. They never announced the scores, they just announced the split points. Something odd, isn’t it?
May be lack of education on the sport? Who knows, may be that is the way to go when tension is too much in the house.
Laraucuete is good at it. She knows fighting is not only physique, one has to use other tactics, and she utilised them. And if she had packaged it well, she would have knocked Ester big time.
Probably what annoyed Laraucuete the most was Ester being declared the winner regardless of how the American had packaged her fighting strategies as compared to her opponent Ester who only depended on her ‘muscles.’
The technical advice is always expensive, and Laraucuete would have paid decently for it, only to be told she had lost the fight.
She knew very well that her record was a powerful tool to thwart Ester prior to the actual fight. Fighting has many stages that Ester has to incorporate in her career to lengthen her span in the sport.
Armies have won wars by playing on the psychology of their opponents. Sometimes even when they were losing a lot of soldiers, they kept on saying ‘we are smoking’ them, giving wrong figures to the media for the soldiers to keep on fighting as though they were doing well while in reality they were dying.
Foot teams have professionals who handle the psychological preparation for the betterment of their teams.
And should not Laraucuete utilise the tactics after all boxing is almost a ‘war’ at its own level. She used a lot of propaganda to face Ester, which Ester did not consider as she fought.
Laraucuete used a lot of media propaganda to torment her opponent even before they faced each other because she knew it was that advantaged her.
Looking at the number of fights and belts she has won and the way she carried herself, the way she spoke about the fight, the confidence she stressed in her words; all played it well on Ester’s mind.
Germans have used such strategies to win wars, who is Laraucuete not to benefit from such iconic architects of facing opponents?
What could be the lesson to Ester, her trainer and sponsors? They should include what they had over seen in their programme.
Ester should not face her opponents on the basis of their past record. It could be vital, but she should take herself as a unique boxer. She has the ability, but the psychological defeat she displayed when she fought Laraucuete is very worrying.
She must realize that even the hardest target can be brought down. Probably she faced Laraucuete with a lot of fear which melted her bones as she entered the ring.
She has to re-strategize well because her other boxers may be studying her, identifying her weaknesses and strength, and before she knew it, she will be stripped off her titles.
Ester’s trainer has more work to do than before because the boxer’s career is at stake. She is good, but she needs to do more.
It is worthy saying; CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
“I didn’t deserve to lose the fight” argued the United States of America’s Belinda Laracuente to the media shortly before departure to her home country.
But the judges declared Ester Phiri winner of the hardest fight the Zambian fighter has ever engaged into. Then why the controversy? Was Laraucuete just embarrassed that she flew all the way to lose on point split basis? Was there something odd with the judgment?
Probably psychologically yes Laracuente won, but technically no. Laraucuete knows how to play with the mental or psychic of Ester that she nearly lost the stamina in the sport.
Psychologists say ‘whatever your mind conceives, you can achieve.’ But what happens when you are working under psychological defeat? You blander!
The American boxer capitalized on her past fights that she won to confuse and defeat Ester in the mind. Considering the number of fights she has taken so far, and how many she as won, Ester took it that she would be next to fall.
Ester did not realize that she was a different boxer herself. A boxer with different approach and stamina. She allowed Laraucuete to prostitute her mind with her past wins.
Probably the fight was the worst to Ester where the opponent was making funny of her even in the ring. Adrenaline would have increased as she looked for an opening for her to square Laraucuete a knock out that would have probably taken her to the ground.
She ended up throwing punches any how, and she got tired. If Ester was prepared psychologically, she would have given a better fight than the one which has put her boxing career into question and her win debatable.
Take Peter in the Bible for instance; when he saw Jesus walking on water, he first believed he could do it.
He stepped onto the water and there he was walking. But immediately doubt came into his mind, he drowned.
Ester needs psychological training or preparation in her coming fights. Her trainers should not look at it in terms of losing money which would have been theirs because her wins benefits them as well. Equally, the day she will lose they will share the loss.
It is now to take a step or she will always be in for it. The tension would be worse when it comes to fights outside the country as she will have no morale boosters. This coupled with mental defeat; she may end her career on a bad note.
One would wonder what was running in Ester’s mind to be exposed to such kind of ridicule or psychological mockery in the ring.
Looking at how Laraucuete kept on dribbling her mind mental faculty, she would have even regretted why she entered the ring to go through that mental torturing boxer.
They say if you can’t defeat them confuse them, and Ester was at to the American in the ring at the Woodlands stadium.
Anyway, it seems it was not Ester alone. Her sponsors and supporters like went through the same mental asunder.
“They should check that boxer nicely, ‘she’ should be a man,” commented some spectators as Laraucuete bounced into the ring doing her lingerie. Some did not want to watch the fight; they preferred hearing about it on the media.
The judges seem to have been equally unsure of what to do. They never announced the scores, they just announced the split points. Something odd, isn’t it?
May be lack of education on the sport? Who knows, may be that is the way to go when tension is too much in the house.
Laraucuete is good at it. She knows fighting is not only physique, one has to use other tactics, and she utilised them. And if she had packaged it well, she would have knocked Ester big time.
Probably what annoyed Laraucuete the most was Ester being declared the winner regardless of how the American had packaged her fighting strategies as compared to her opponent Ester who only depended on her ‘muscles.’
The technical advice is always expensive, and Laraucuete would have paid decently for it, only to be told she had lost the fight.
She knew very well that her record was a powerful tool to thwart Ester prior to the actual fight. Fighting has many stages that Ester has to incorporate in her career to lengthen her span in the sport.
Armies have won wars by playing on the psychology of their opponents. Sometimes even when they were losing a lot of soldiers, they kept on saying ‘we are smoking’ them, giving wrong figures to the media for the soldiers to keep on fighting as though they were doing well while in reality they were dying.
Foot teams have professionals who handle the psychological preparation for the betterment of their teams.
And should not Laraucuete utilise the tactics after all boxing is almost a ‘war’ at its own level. She used a lot of propaganda to face Ester, which Ester did not consider as she fought.
Laraucuete used a lot of media propaganda to torment her opponent even before they faced each other because she knew it was that advantaged her.
Looking at the number of fights and belts she has won and the way she carried herself, the way she spoke about the fight, the confidence she stressed in her words; all played it well on Ester’s mind.
Germans have used such strategies to win wars, who is Laraucuete not to benefit from such iconic architects of facing opponents?
What could be the lesson to Ester, her trainer and sponsors? They should include what they had over seen in their programme.
Ester should not face her opponents on the basis of their past record. It could be vital, but she should take herself as a unique boxer. She has the ability, but the psychological defeat she displayed when she fought Laraucuete is very worrying.
She must realize that even the hardest target can be brought down. Probably she faced Laraucuete with a lot of fear which melted her bones as she entered the ring.
She has to re-strategize well because her other boxers may be studying her, identifying her weaknesses and strength, and before she knew it, she will be stripped off her titles.
Ester’s trainer has more work to do than before because the boxer’s career is at stake. She is good, but she needs to do more.
It is worthy saying; CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
Monday, December 10, 2007
sex and sexuality
‘Do you make love in Heaven?’
‘If we gonna make love, I’m not going to your heaven. Oh no, absolutely. True God or no true God. That’d be a worry bad place. I must find out before go there. Yes, indeed.’
(Book: Tai Pan By: James Clavell)
Sex is the in thing now, and the number of people engaged in it outside marriage currently can only be described as shocking.
Now! I have not carried out any scientific research on the number of people in the country who are having premarital and extramarital sex, but I can assure you that if such a research were to be carried out the number people who are having ‘illegal sex’ would make the church cow in shame and hold the notion of Zambia being a Christian nation to ridicule.
Of course, the Central Statistics Office usually run periodical researches in line with fertility rate and such, but if truth were to be told the number of people who lie on the matter of how many sexual partners they have would shock the statisticians.
Most of you would probably hold me as a liar as per the regards of this serious allegations I am making, but before I proceed in trying to justify myself it may be important that we picture this factual scenario of an ad hoc research I carried out.
This research basically involved my sitting at a counter of a pub, nursing a beer and pretending to watch a ZNBC production that was quite tasking to concentrate on. The night sport can be classified as a middle class pub, with the beer being a bit too expensive maybe to present the aura of class, and the commercial sex workers being a bit on the higher class of the bracket so as to say.
Here comes a man in his mid 30s, descent looking, a little bit tipsy but with this impression of ‘I am here to take my last pint before I hit the road, and thus mind your own business and I will mind mine’. The chap takes a sit next to mine, gets a Castle and goes down to his business. After a gulp or two he starts checking out the place -mostly the girls I noticed- then assumes the ‘I don’t need company expression’, but soon enough he is talking to me, making some enquiries as to what I was about.
However, the discussion boils down to him with his proud uttering’s of how he is a ‘happily’ married man with a two year old kid at home whom he loves very much, blah blah blah and so on and so forth. Anyway, to cut the long story short, by the end of three beers this young upstanding man was on the dance floor trying his luck with the ladies.
You may think that this is an exceptional situation, until I tell you that a week before meeting this particular young man I was with an upstanding gentle man in his late 50s at exactly the same spot, who was complaining about the declining moral standards in the community, but still could not resist the temptations, or so it seemed.
However, this ad hoc examples should not be taken to mean that all those who partake in this unchristian habit of taking alcoholic beverages usually do it as an excuse to have some little bit of sexual activities outside the confine of marriage, but that sex happens with some opting for multiple sexual partners.
Regardless of all the preaching on the dangers of HIV/Aids and sexual transmitted diseases or how disgraceful and sinful it is to have sex before marriage, it is a fact that sex has become so popular that pregnancies, whether wanted or unwanted, has become prevalent despite the churches stand point against sexual immorality labeled as adultery, fornication and such.
However much one moral leader after another preaches against premarital and extramarital sex, the society still recognises that people will engage in it. It is thus that if one hopes to control sexuality in the community, one must look at the underlying causes of promiscuity which seems to lie in the perception of sex from ones teenage years.
Teenagers in the Zambian society face an enormous challenge when it comes to sex. The society has put so much emphasis on romance, though however clandestine, that teenagers cannot consider friendship without romantic overtones.
The media is very guilty in promoting these overtones with their insistence of running HIV/Aids awareness campaigns alongside romantic soap operas. Currently, it seems every movie or novel produced must have the main character involved in a romantic tangle for it to be complete.
It is in the same vain that sociologist Constantine Safilios-Rothschild notes that this type of overemphasis on romance can lead to a serious sociolisation handicap, and it has long-range consequences for the possible man-woman relationships.
The relationships between young males and females have been reduced to ritualised contests, with the male attempting to escalate the sexual activity and the female resisting his efforts.
The relationships between males and females may have been reduced to be nothing more than animals in the wilderness where it is the business of the males to find a female so as to mate with her. Hence, the male drive, or male eagerness, results from this special function of males.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that male female relationship has come to a situation where we have developed a struggle, instead of mutuality and respect.
The female is viewed as a reluctant sexual object to be exploited, and the male is viewed as a seducer and aggressor who must succeed in order to maintain his self image and his status with his peers.
The Encyclopaedia continues to note that this sort of pathological relationship causes a lasting attitude on the part of females, as in men are not to be trusted.
Ladies have come to think that males are only interested in sex, and a girl dare not smile or be friendly to a male, least he interpret it as a sign of sexual availability.
Such an aura of suspicion, hostility and anxiety is scarcely conducive to the development of warm trusting relationships between males and females.
It is unfortunate to note that such notions of sex being the backbone of relationships between males and female are not only cultural, but also have religious connotations.
In the early Christianity, sex in any form outside marriage was an unmitigated evil, and within marriage it was seen as an unfortunate necessity for procreation rather than pleasure.
It is very noticeable in the bible that no mention has been made of either God or Jesus having a wife, and it has been suggested that there are no female angels.
Though the society has for centuries tried to place barriers and restrictions on the sexual needs of its citizens, sex itself has remained a natural need, observable even in newborn males who have the ability to get penile erections.
Young children and even babies of both sexes have been noticed to find pleasure in genital stimulations, and what appears to be an orgasm has been observed to occur in self-masturbation or sex play.
However much the society, especially in Zambia which is a ‘Christian nation’ might hold on to the messages of abstinences and such, it must be advised that abstinence messages are not working with resent research findings in Britain confirming this.
Though it is not a must that one has sex so as to survive, it is better we appreciate it as it is and recognise that most people will engage in it whether the society likes it or not. Hence, the society should be advised from this basis and not with shock and fear tactics that are currently being employed.
However, one must also be advised to use condoms whenever one is having clandestine sex.
‘If we gonna make love, I’m not going to your heaven. Oh no, absolutely. True God or no true God. That’d be a worry bad place. I must find out before go there. Yes, indeed.’
(Book: Tai Pan By: James Clavell)
Sex is the in thing now, and the number of people engaged in it outside marriage currently can only be described as shocking.
Now! I have not carried out any scientific research on the number of people in the country who are having premarital and extramarital sex, but I can assure you that if such a research were to be carried out the number people who are having ‘illegal sex’ would make the church cow in shame and hold the notion of Zambia being a Christian nation to ridicule.
Of course, the Central Statistics Office usually run periodical researches in line with fertility rate and such, but if truth were to be told the number of people who lie on the matter of how many sexual partners they have would shock the statisticians.
Most of you would probably hold me as a liar as per the regards of this serious allegations I am making, but before I proceed in trying to justify myself it may be important that we picture this factual scenario of an ad hoc research I carried out.
This research basically involved my sitting at a counter of a pub, nursing a beer and pretending to watch a ZNBC production that was quite tasking to concentrate on. The night sport can be classified as a middle class pub, with the beer being a bit too expensive maybe to present the aura of class, and the commercial sex workers being a bit on the higher class of the bracket so as to say.
Here comes a man in his mid 30s, descent looking, a little bit tipsy but with this impression of ‘I am here to take my last pint before I hit the road, and thus mind your own business and I will mind mine’. The chap takes a sit next to mine, gets a Castle and goes down to his business. After a gulp or two he starts checking out the place -mostly the girls I noticed- then assumes the ‘I don’t need company expression’, but soon enough he is talking to me, making some enquiries as to what I was about.
However, the discussion boils down to him with his proud uttering’s of how he is a ‘happily’ married man with a two year old kid at home whom he loves very much, blah blah blah and so on and so forth. Anyway, to cut the long story short, by the end of three beers this young upstanding man was on the dance floor trying his luck with the ladies.
You may think that this is an exceptional situation, until I tell you that a week before meeting this particular young man I was with an upstanding gentle man in his late 50s at exactly the same spot, who was complaining about the declining moral standards in the community, but still could not resist the temptations, or so it seemed.
However, this ad hoc examples should not be taken to mean that all those who partake in this unchristian habit of taking alcoholic beverages usually do it as an excuse to have some little bit of sexual activities outside the confine of marriage, but that sex happens with some opting for multiple sexual partners.
Regardless of all the preaching on the dangers of HIV/Aids and sexual transmitted diseases or how disgraceful and sinful it is to have sex before marriage, it is a fact that sex has become so popular that pregnancies, whether wanted or unwanted, has become prevalent despite the churches stand point against sexual immorality labeled as adultery, fornication and such.
However much one moral leader after another preaches against premarital and extramarital sex, the society still recognises that people will engage in it. It is thus that if one hopes to control sexuality in the community, one must look at the underlying causes of promiscuity which seems to lie in the perception of sex from ones teenage years.
Teenagers in the Zambian society face an enormous challenge when it comes to sex. The society has put so much emphasis on romance, though however clandestine, that teenagers cannot consider friendship without romantic overtones.
The media is very guilty in promoting these overtones with their insistence of running HIV/Aids awareness campaigns alongside romantic soap operas. Currently, it seems every movie or novel produced must have the main character involved in a romantic tangle for it to be complete.
It is in the same vain that sociologist Constantine Safilios-Rothschild notes that this type of overemphasis on romance can lead to a serious sociolisation handicap, and it has long-range consequences for the possible man-woman relationships.
The relationships between young males and females have been reduced to ritualised contests, with the male attempting to escalate the sexual activity and the female resisting his efforts.
The relationships between males and females may have been reduced to be nothing more than animals in the wilderness where it is the business of the males to find a female so as to mate with her. Hence, the male drive, or male eagerness, results from this special function of males.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that male female relationship has come to a situation where we have developed a struggle, instead of mutuality and respect.
The female is viewed as a reluctant sexual object to be exploited, and the male is viewed as a seducer and aggressor who must succeed in order to maintain his self image and his status with his peers.
The Encyclopaedia continues to note that this sort of pathological relationship causes a lasting attitude on the part of females, as in men are not to be trusted.
Ladies have come to think that males are only interested in sex, and a girl dare not smile or be friendly to a male, least he interpret it as a sign of sexual availability.
Such an aura of suspicion, hostility and anxiety is scarcely conducive to the development of warm trusting relationships between males and females.
It is unfortunate to note that such notions of sex being the backbone of relationships between males and female are not only cultural, but also have religious connotations.
In the early Christianity, sex in any form outside marriage was an unmitigated evil, and within marriage it was seen as an unfortunate necessity for procreation rather than pleasure.
It is very noticeable in the bible that no mention has been made of either God or Jesus having a wife, and it has been suggested that there are no female angels.
Though the society has for centuries tried to place barriers and restrictions on the sexual needs of its citizens, sex itself has remained a natural need, observable even in newborn males who have the ability to get penile erections.
Young children and even babies of both sexes have been noticed to find pleasure in genital stimulations, and what appears to be an orgasm has been observed to occur in self-masturbation or sex play.
However much the society, especially in Zambia which is a ‘Christian nation’ might hold on to the messages of abstinences and such, it must be advised that abstinence messages are not working with resent research findings in Britain confirming this.
Though it is not a must that one has sex so as to survive, it is better we appreciate it as it is and recognise that most people will engage in it whether the society likes it or not. Hence, the society should be advised from this basis and not with shock and fear tactics that are currently being employed.
However, one must also be advised to use condoms whenever one is having clandestine sex.
Surviving at UNZA
They say life is what you make it, but the ups and downs of the University of Zambia make you up. It is simple! UNZA builds and breaks. It is dominated by energetic youngsters anyway, what do you expect? Enjoy your youth is the name of the game. But even matures are often victims.
However, students at the institution face different ups and downs. Male students (monks) have their challenges that are rare among the female folk, preferably called momas. Monks often fall prey to many deviant behaviours of sporadic nature. When it comes to love matters, most of the monks fear to date the momas for they believe they are ‘gold diggers.’ They would rather hook a cheap babe from the nearby compounds or low class clubs. Mahela in Kalingalinga compound is one the frequented areas for a cheaper catch. But even those could be a hard target when being broke becomes the true definition of the monks. In such instances, sharing expenses to get a catch of the day is way to go.
The monks can put their little bulks together and try their luck on any stray catch on their way. Sometimes a lady is shared by three or more guys since the bulks to hook her are sourced together. Absurd yeah, but its one way to go when the sex surge reigns? The lady may not even get the money sometimes. The monks may just vanish, leaving her in the room. The other monk would come as the owner of the room and dismiss her.
Under age girls have also fallen prey to the monk-dom surviving strategy. It is worse to them because they go through life long ordeal. The law often fails to apply with them, as victims would not identify the rooms they had been taken. In many instances friends’ rooms are used for security reasons.
Fighting over who goes for the catch first is a common thing among the ‘monks’ hooking circus. Everyone wants to go first when the lady is still energetic. The one who contributed more often fight to lead. The lady is entertained with few amateur boxing tactics during this period. Some monks give up in the process. But some resist to the end. They would rather go last, provided they have taken part in the ‘touch and go game.’
What about masturbation? Exclusion may be? Wait a minute! Some monks call it “the cheapest and non-risky act.” What’s the argument? You don’t pay anybody and you don’t worry about these globalised infections. Taking a stroll into the ‘monks’ toilets would prove something to such anti-Viagra acts. Some typographic reads, “looking for the cheapest and safest sexual urge relax? Try masturbation. Benefits are many. It might be the cheapest and safest way. Trying it may be worthy something.
Many mature students take it the simpler way. They settle on cleaners commonly known as UNZA maid among the monks and momas. It’s all easy to clinch! Just tell the maid you have clothes to wash. Immediately she comes, the story changes. Introducing the maid to the topic is not any issue among the matures. Most of them are married, and they know how to play the cards. Some monks find it ironic to settle on maids for fear of embarrassment in case they are in company of the momas who come for academic help as maids often take things for granted. Maids don’t take it as one way-off, they think it’s all day long thing.
You may think momas are angels. They are smart in their way. With them, they time table things. They know whom to see when, and who provides what. They need a lot of things, and one man may not meet their needs. A man may have the bucks, but may not meet their academic challenges. They end up having a chain of donors or land lords for each need. Even those who claim they are principled are swept by the whirlwinds of the campus demon. Good girls become bad at campus. It’s wild!
Some landlords are used for air time or immaculate cell phone of the day. Others cough few bucks for epoch shoppings in expensive boutiques in the city. They are hot-city babes you know. They must look cool…simply laka. It’s a camp, all should go the campus way. Temporal!
Landlords who feel they have what it takes give it a try. It’s often ‘big’ men, with fat pocket and accounts. Some of such men are specifically for outings every Friday by the momas. The landlords pack their famous vehicles by the ladies’ hostels to take their pick. They often pack at the October crib (hostel) referred to October Airport by campus tenants (monks). Friday is the best day to judge a man by their rack (car). It’s like a showcase. These tycoons don’t drive witless racks; they have to look funky-delicious. It costs a tidy packet, but it’s the way to go with campus babes.
Few monks try to throw their dice on these babes especially freshers (first years). But their relationships fizzle-out immediately the freshers get attuned to campus lackadaisical game. This makes the monks violently sick, but what can they do? They are half naked fakirs (no cash). They can’t manage clothes that breathe out life nor a slap-up buffet by Arcades. The monks merely watch the cars whizzing passing them in the trance of lovable dreamers.
Some momas however have something to get from the monks. They thus spare them time to taste the cod-wallops of love the landlords groove with. Monks often think they are in heavenly sent love, but merely for school work. They die-hard monks crack their heads riffle through the dust chocking books in the library under the momas’ daft love commands. The lame romance makes the monks feel they are the momas’ soul-mates, but mere errand boys. To help them get distinctions on silver platters. Those monks who don’t want to be conduits never give it a try.
There’s no free lunch in Zambia, momas don’t get landlords’ goodies the ease way always. Some accept to have their nude photos posted on the internet for few dollars if not pounds. The brave ones go for sex with pets. The commonly used pets are dogs. Owners of the pets set cameras for pictures as the act goes on. The pictures are then sold to pornography website owners for big bucks. The momas get a very small portion of that bling-bling. It matters less to some momas what they are told to do by the landlords, who knows they did what, when, where, with who? It’s their business. Although the thought of it may send off a train of anger and hollowed hatred within some people, it’s one way to go at campus. It’s temporal, it will come to pass. Serious life will start when that time comes.
These aren’t the only types of students around campus. There are those who claim they are real monks. These they take offence talking to momas. Even greeting them is an issue. They don’t cross roads with momas. If a moma is coming their way, some would rather divert or go back where they came from. The only word they have for a moma is an insult. These monks package the insults so nicely that their rhythm of them is like a rap tune. It’s all about creativity anyway. They are good. They take great pleasure in the insults and momas swear to them (hate them). These monks have a real flow of insults in a measured tread and witless way. They are simply a daft of charismatic nonsense. Greeting each other is often by a gift of an insult- just an introduction. Lecturers or friends are identified by an insult. They are full of satire.
The ruins (old residence) are the real jungle of these monks’ talks. They never mind, since there are no ladies around them. They can say anything in any way, no one will look down on them, and their fellow monks can be. They are never prisoners of any monk.
At UNZA it takes muscles, but the strong survive.
However, students at the institution face different ups and downs. Male students (monks) have their challenges that are rare among the female folk, preferably called momas. Monks often fall prey to many deviant behaviours of sporadic nature. When it comes to love matters, most of the monks fear to date the momas for they believe they are ‘gold diggers.’ They would rather hook a cheap babe from the nearby compounds or low class clubs. Mahela in Kalingalinga compound is one the frequented areas for a cheaper catch. But even those could be a hard target when being broke becomes the true definition of the monks. In such instances, sharing expenses to get a catch of the day is way to go.
The monks can put their little bulks together and try their luck on any stray catch on their way. Sometimes a lady is shared by three or more guys since the bulks to hook her are sourced together. Absurd yeah, but its one way to go when the sex surge reigns? The lady may not even get the money sometimes. The monks may just vanish, leaving her in the room. The other monk would come as the owner of the room and dismiss her.
Under age girls have also fallen prey to the monk-dom surviving strategy. It is worse to them because they go through life long ordeal. The law often fails to apply with them, as victims would not identify the rooms they had been taken. In many instances friends’ rooms are used for security reasons.
Fighting over who goes for the catch first is a common thing among the ‘monks’ hooking circus. Everyone wants to go first when the lady is still energetic. The one who contributed more often fight to lead. The lady is entertained with few amateur boxing tactics during this period. Some monks give up in the process. But some resist to the end. They would rather go last, provided they have taken part in the ‘touch and go game.’
What about masturbation? Exclusion may be? Wait a minute! Some monks call it “the cheapest and non-risky act.” What’s the argument? You don’t pay anybody and you don’t worry about these globalised infections. Taking a stroll into the ‘monks’ toilets would prove something to such anti-Viagra acts. Some typographic reads, “looking for the cheapest and safest sexual urge relax? Try masturbation. Benefits are many. It might be the cheapest and safest way. Trying it may be worthy something.
Many mature students take it the simpler way. They settle on cleaners commonly known as UNZA maid among the monks and momas. It’s all easy to clinch! Just tell the maid you have clothes to wash. Immediately she comes, the story changes. Introducing the maid to the topic is not any issue among the matures. Most of them are married, and they know how to play the cards. Some monks find it ironic to settle on maids for fear of embarrassment in case they are in company of the momas who come for academic help as maids often take things for granted. Maids don’t take it as one way-off, they think it’s all day long thing.
You may think momas are angels. They are smart in their way. With them, they time table things. They know whom to see when, and who provides what. They need a lot of things, and one man may not meet their needs. A man may have the bucks, but may not meet their academic challenges. They end up having a chain of donors or land lords for each need. Even those who claim they are principled are swept by the whirlwinds of the campus demon. Good girls become bad at campus. It’s wild!
Some landlords are used for air time or immaculate cell phone of the day. Others cough few bucks for epoch shoppings in expensive boutiques in the city. They are hot-city babes you know. They must look cool…simply laka. It’s a camp, all should go the campus way. Temporal!
Landlords who feel they have what it takes give it a try. It’s often ‘big’ men, with fat pocket and accounts. Some of such men are specifically for outings every Friday by the momas. The landlords pack their famous vehicles by the ladies’ hostels to take their pick. They often pack at the October crib (hostel) referred to October Airport by campus tenants (monks). Friday is the best day to judge a man by their rack (car). It’s like a showcase. These tycoons don’t drive witless racks; they have to look funky-delicious. It costs a tidy packet, but it’s the way to go with campus babes.
Few monks try to throw their dice on these babes especially freshers (first years). But their relationships fizzle-out immediately the freshers get attuned to campus lackadaisical game. This makes the monks violently sick, but what can they do? They are half naked fakirs (no cash). They can’t manage clothes that breathe out life nor a slap-up buffet by Arcades. The monks merely watch the cars whizzing passing them in the trance of lovable dreamers.
Some momas however have something to get from the monks. They thus spare them time to taste the cod-wallops of love the landlords groove with. Monks often think they are in heavenly sent love, but merely for school work. They die-hard monks crack their heads riffle through the dust chocking books in the library under the momas’ daft love commands. The lame romance makes the monks feel they are the momas’ soul-mates, but mere errand boys. To help them get distinctions on silver platters. Those monks who don’t want to be conduits never give it a try.
There’s no free lunch in Zambia, momas don’t get landlords’ goodies the ease way always. Some accept to have their nude photos posted on the internet for few dollars if not pounds. The brave ones go for sex with pets. The commonly used pets are dogs. Owners of the pets set cameras for pictures as the act goes on. The pictures are then sold to pornography website owners for big bucks. The momas get a very small portion of that bling-bling. It matters less to some momas what they are told to do by the landlords, who knows they did what, when, where, with who? It’s their business. Although the thought of it may send off a train of anger and hollowed hatred within some people, it’s one way to go at campus. It’s temporal, it will come to pass. Serious life will start when that time comes.
These aren’t the only types of students around campus. There are those who claim they are real monks. These they take offence talking to momas. Even greeting them is an issue. They don’t cross roads with momas. If a moma is coming their way, some would rather divert or go back where they came from. The only word they have for a moma is an insult. These monks package the insults so nicely that their rhythm of them is like a rap tune. It’s all about creativity anyway. They are good. They take great pleasure in the insults and momas swear to them (hate them). These monks have a real flow of insults in a measured tread and witless way. They are simply a daft of charismatic nonsense. Greeting each other is often by a gift of an insult- just an introduction. Lecturers or friends are identified by an insult. They are full of satire.
The ruins (old residence) are the real jungle of these monks’ talks. They never mind, since there are no ladies around them. They can say anything in any way, no one will look down on them, and their fellow monks can be. They are never prisoners of any monk.
At UNZA it takes muscles, but the strong survive.
Monday, November 26, 2007
how male students are used by ladies in universities, do you share my views?
At the University of Zambia (UNZA) relationships are very common, but the is often sad. Ladies normally utilize any 'genius' in their classes to gain entry in the institutions' 'Guienea Book of Records' for out standing performance, while it's guys who pay the price. Just being a friend to them is worthy a pen. You meet their academic challenges as they come. They either ask you to help them with the writing or the material, and if you fail to do anything in those lines, you may be called all sorts of names. If you are not carefull you may think you have a caring lady along side you, but not at all. Our friends know how to utilise any weakness in a man. Many male students are eager to go out with one of these hotty babies around here, and the ladies are there to meet any male student in any way they come, and the men are often losers. With the improvement in technology, they are thier to buy talk time if not other goodies a lady may eager to have. And many guys are blinded by the charming tactics the ladies display, they are often traped, and before they knew it they lose out. Guys are the ones to go in the library, fighting with those dust papers and books while the ladies will be enjoying the beauties of life.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
relationships at college or university
Growing up is all funny, you go throw crucibles of life, before being qualified into full grown up. The situation is more witty when it comes to relationships at university. Everyone wants company, and finding a partner is often done upharzardly, without much considerations of what one has to offer to the other. It starts as a heavenly sent romance, but it often fizzles out within a short time after geting the reality of the matters. Some ladies are too high in status that low economic class guys get suffocated with their daily demands for things like going out for a movie at Starcknecker at achardes or clubing every weekend. It takes a tidy packet. Some ladies need a guy for talk time, for a ride, for shopping aroung town for clothes that breathe out life, among other goodies of life for a youth. Some ladies equally need some guy around campus to meet thier academic challenges. My story goes on...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
