Government is Held More Accountable
Democracy and Governance
USAID/Zambia
Government Held More Accountable was the outcome of a 2002 democracy
and governance assessment, happily crossing paths with the declaration
of Zambia’s new President, that “rule of law must replace
rule by man” and of ‘zero tolerance to corruption’.
The SO is built on the development hypothesis that government accountability,
both economic and political, and prevention of corruption depend on
constitutional and institutional reforms that reduce executive powers.
Due to the enormous powers of the President and through him of the ruling
party, Zambia has remained a de facto one party state; the multiparty
reforms of 1991 require implementation on many levels before all Zambians
will benefit. Parliament must become an effective watchdog, and civil
society must be prime in driving change. Viewed from the present, the
“zeitgeist” (social movement) that will inspire and motivate
Zambians over the next decade is eliminating corruption; and a successful
fight against corruption will significantly improve Zambia’s economy.
By 2010, a more accountable Government will be observed in the following
changes:
· The reformed Constitution as the supreme legal authority has
devolved power from State House and the Executive to a stronger and
more independent Parliament.
· Significant improvements on corruption perception scales.
· Elections perceived to be free and fair.
· Fewer opportunities and greater risks for public officials
tempted by large scale corruption, abuse of office and crony capitalism,
because of reformed codes, systems and procedures to prevent corruption
and enforce the law.
Activities
IR8.1: Rule of Law Enhances Accountability
Legal and procedural loopholes that allow abuse of office and administrative
corruption must be closed. Examples are: Constitution to rebalance powers,
creating or revising lower legal and technical instruments such as reforms
of the criminal code, money laundering and asset forfeiture laws, conspiracy
and organized crime legislation, rules of criminal procedure, High Court
jurisdiction over corruption trials, witness protection and whistleblower
legislation, codes of conduct and systems for tracking declaration of
assets for government officials, corruption investigative practices
training, financial intelligence and banking supervision systems. Reforms
should reduce red tape and clarify bureaucratic procedures that give
too much discretion to public officials.
IR 8.2: Citizens and Civil Society Demand Accountability.
Civil society will provide feedback on public policy and service delivery.
Programming will include support for CSO capacity strengthening in analytic
and policy research capacity, public opinion polling, and understanding
of the policy and legislative processes, and of Parliamentary Committees.
Anti-corruption CSOs must advocate against petty corruption, so that
citizens learn to say ‘no’ to corruption practices. Fora
for dialogue between CSO and selected government institutions on key
policy issues will be established. The target is permanent dialogue
mechanisms.
IR8.3: More Effective Watchdog Institutions
Parliament must be a strong and independent watchdog over the executive.
USAID supports the multi-donor funded Parliamentary Reform Project Stage
II (PRPII), whose objectives are: representation, effective and efficient
management, accountable, and linked to civil society and voters. Other
partners include the Auditor General and NGOs interested in monitoring
fiscal accountability. Through the USAID anti-corruption initiative
(ACI), parliamentary committees concerned with budget and financial
management will be strengthened. Through PRPII, constituency offices
are being established in pilot ridings.
Success Stories
Constituency Offices Bring Power of Government Back to the People
Edith Moono is one of the 83,352 constituents in the rural Dundumwenzi
region of Zambia’s Southern Province. Like most people in Dundumwenzi,
Moono used to know little about Zambian Parliament.
“I just though Parliament did work for people in Lusaka since
Parliament meets in Lusaka,” Moono says.
Knowledge of Parliament is increasing in Dundumwenzi, thanks to the
local constituency office, created by Pact Zambia’s Parliamentary
Reform Project (PRP). PRP is a joint effort of Pact, USAID/Zambia and
the Zambian National Assembly. The National Assembly’s Parliamentary
Reforms and Modernisation Committee (PRMC) selected Dundumwenzi as one
of nine locations for constituency offices during the pilot phase of
the program in 2003. Members of Parliament (MPs) from the selected offices
represent a variety of political parties, and John Bosley, Pact’s
Senior Advisor for PRP, emphasizes that the offices were created for
non-partisan purposes.
“The offices weren’t set up to help MPs campaign,”
Bosley says. “The goal is to allow constituents to have increased
contact with government and increase the power sharing between Parliament
and the people.”
PRMC members were responsible for hiring constituency office staff,
again to ensure that staffers were hired on the basis of their qualifications,
not their party affiliation. Edith Moono was hired as the Dundumwenzi
office assistant. She keeps records of schools, clubs and other organizations
in the community, and also maintains a log book where constituents come
to sign and record questions and comments for their MP. The MP also
writes his responses in the log book. More than three hundred constituents
visited the Dundumwenzi office in June 2004.
Emmerson Mudenda is the MP for Dundumwenzi. When Parliament is not
in session, Mudenda works in the constituency office on Tuesday and
Thursdays and spends the rest of the week traveling throughout his constituency.
He says he is impressed with the positive response his constituents
have had to the office and says the office makes it easier for him to
respond to local needs and bring those needs before Parliament. Recently
several local residents visited the office to complain about wild animals
killing their domestic livestock. Mudenda is now working with Parliament
and a wild life conservation agency to compensate residents for their
lost livestock and create a contingency plan to alleviate the problem
in the future. Soon, the offices will become a facility for MPs to play
a leadership role in the HIV/AIDS fight.
The Dundumwenzi constituency office has also become a focal point for
other community activities. The office served as the distribution center
for a shipment of rice in March 2004. According to Moono, the centralized
location meant that the allocation of the food could be regulated, ensuring
that all constituents benefited. Moono also keeps a collection of newspapers
in the office library, which helps people in this rural village, 75
kilometers from the closest town, stay informed of news throughout the
country. Moono says the constituency office has created an increased
demand for news of Parliamentary activities. “I’ve seen
a change in the people,” she says. “People were in the dark
before but now they know that what Parliament discusses is for them.”
Because of the success of this pilot project, fifteen new constituency
offices will be opened in 2005, providing constituent services to a
greater number of people across the country.
Zambian Women Making Strides Toward Gender Equality in Politics
The 1991 elections represented a turning point for governance in Zambia,
as the country embraced the inception of a multi-party democracy. The
multi-party system created an opportunity to increase public debate
in the political arena; now a new generation of Zambian leaders has
taken on this challenge. The push towards an inclusive democracy has
been supported by Pact Zambia and USAID through Pact’s Increase
Public Debate (IPD) project. IPD became Pact’s main activity in
2001. The project awards grants to 37 membership organizations that
mobilize policy and public sector debates. Among the Pact funded organizations
is the Zambia National Women’s Lobby Group (ZNWLG).
Chipo Lungu became ZNWLG’s Executive Director in 2001. Her first
assignment was to use ZNWLG’s Pact grant to increase the number
of female candidates running for office in local and national elections.
Both Pact and Lungu agreed that increasing female participation in government
was a crucial facet of a representative democracy.
“Women bring a humane face to politics,” Lungu says. “They
see issues that men don’t worry about.”
Among those issues is food security at the household level and investment
in health care. These and other concerns were included in the Zambia
Women’s Manifesto, a 45-page document produced by ZNWLG, and published
with the help of Pact. The Manifesto was an opportunity for women, regardless
of political party, to come together and collaborate on issues that
impact Zambian women. The Manifesto received positive feedback, including
from many male politicians who told Lungu, “We didn’t realize
all this. You’re really making sense!”
ZNWLG used the success of the Manifesto to recruit strong female political
candidates for the 2001 election. They advertised for interested women
on radio, television and billboards, and the response was tremendous;
198 women campaigned for seats in Parliament and 800 women ran for local
counselor positions. 19 women won Parliamentary seats and 64 women won
counselor races. Among the successful Parliamentary candidates was Patricia
Nawa. Nawa has been a member of ZNWLG since its inception and credits
the organization not only with her successful bid for Parliament but
also in her victory in the 1999 Lusaka mayoral race, when she became
the capital city’s first female mayor. She says ZNWLG helps provide
women with the resources they need to make positive inroads in Zambian
politics.
“We’ve given men 40 years to run this country and you see
the economic condition we’re in,” Nawa says. “Women
are very dedicated politicians and we deserve a chance too.”
Nawa and other victorious women from the 2001 elections continue to
work with ZNWLG. The organization created a resource desk to assist
female MPs with research so they can speak confidently before the legislature.
These women also serve as role models and mentors for branches of ZNWLG
that have been set up at Zambian universities to encourage young women
to get involved in politics.
Chipo Lungu says ZNWLG is already formulating their election strategies
to increase female participation and representation in the 2006 elections.
Patricia Nawa plans to introduce a motion urging Parliament to adopt
the recommendation of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
which has set a target of 30 percent female representation in national
politics.
“I would love to leave gender equality a positive topic in Parliament,”
Nawa says. “I want to help create an environment that will allow
young women coming up after us to feel comfortable in politics.”
Links to partner websites
PACT/Zambia
Calendar of Events
Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) - government website
back to top
