Post date: Aug 08, 2011 11:9:44 AM
Zambia's main opposition party has asked the high court to block President Rupiah Banda from taking part in next month's elections, owing to his parentage but in the build up to the polls, voters are looking at Banda's track record.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA (AUGUST 5, 2011) REUTERS - Zambia's main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party has asked the high court to block President Rupiah Banda from taking part in next month's elections, saying he does not qualify to stand.Zambia's constitution requires both parents of a presidential candidate to be Zambian by birth. The PF said Banda's father was born in what is now Malawi.
"This is not a political matter, the issue of the eligibility of a candidate to stand for the office of the President is a constitution matter and the constitution under article 4 makes it very clear that you must have both your parents having been born in Zambia," said Wynter Kabimba, PF secretary general.
"We are not petitioning Mr. Banda as President we are saying to the MMD (Movement for Multi-party Democracy) find another candidate because the candidate that you are putting forward does not qualify," added Kabimba.
Banda dissolved parliament last month and set September 20 as the date for elections that are likely to hand him and his Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) another five years in power in Africa's biggest copper producer.
His spokesman said the attempt to block him was a diversionary tactic because both his parents were Zambian. The ruling party says the PF have launched the action because it fears being beaten in the polls.
A judgement on the case is due on Tuesday (August 09). Political analyst Neo Simutanyi says resolving the matter will be a landmark moment in Zambian politics.
"I think the issue of citizenship in Zambia is an issue that needs to be decided once and for all because it appears that it's only brought up whenever elections are taking place or one party, one group of people feel that they want to exclude an opponent," he said.
But despite questions over his parentage, Banda remains a strong candidate for re-election, particularly based on the country's booming 13 billion US dollar economy and annual growth at around 6 percent.
And while Zambia's political leaders battle it out in court, more conventional issues like education, healthcare and housing are on the minds of those who will be voting.
"They are saying there is free education if you go in schools today you find that even a orphan is paying and people we have more street vendors just because they can't avoid to go to school, we can't afford to go to the clinics," said Lusaka resident Grace Ngulube.
Like many Lusaka residents, Ngulube says education and healthcare policies will be more of a priority than parentage when she comes to choose a candidate in the ballot box.
For resident Paul Chishima, its land rights that will swing his vote.
"There is no country where all building plots are being given to investors whilst us local people are being denied plots like we are not Zambians. It is better that the foreigners who are given plots take part in the voting process not a person like me who is being denied the right to own land," he said.
Banda, who prides himself on his farming roots, is a former associate of Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, whose reliance on Soviet-style central planning drove the economy into the ground in the 1980s.
He has since abandoned socialism in favour of free-market economics to the point that his administration is looking to launch a debut 500 million US dollar Eurobond this year.
The southern African country is also regarded as one of the more sensibly run frontier economies in the region and is attracting large amounts of outside investment to its mining and agricultural sectors.