How to recall' current MPs

For the past two weeks I have been attending consultations and meetings with an association that calls itself Campaign 2013.

At first I was very skeptical about their intentions, owing to the fact that I am not at all impressed with the political formations of the country.

I later discovered that they are not in any way associated with any political formation and are not the least interested in political parties.

These are children of the Tinkhundla system who have been trained and educated by the very system that many a Swazi would like to hate.

Some of them have lived and studied in places such as America and others are not even resident in Swaziland but have a burning desire to come back home. Their main gripe is the fact that they would not be ready to come home under the prevailing circumstances.

They have gone as far as registering an association and would like to campaign towards encouraging people to participate in the 2013 elections.

The main reason they asked me to meet with them was so that they could use my column to market their beliefs and campaign.

I read through their brochures and constitution and discovered that there was basically nothing sinister in their plot to unseat the present Members of Parliament in the 2013 elections.

In fact, the 2013 elections must see a united Swaziland if we are serious about moving this country forward.

The present calibre of MPs must not see the light of day in 2013.

The fact that there are some professional and educated Swazis seeking to make a move in the 2013 elections has brought hope to those of us who have realised that there are people within government who want to destroy the Monarchy and present system of governance.

Stomach politicians and greedy men and women of this country must be given a run for their money in 2013.

We cannot afford to see what is happening in Swaziland today after October 2013.

It would seem to me that there is a group of cronies within the royal circles that always has first hand information each time the King is about to leave the country.

In his last trip, the King left the Matsapha Airport as early as 4am and what was surprising is the fact that by that early hour, there were people already awake and lined up to bid him farewell. This is amazing!

It is these very people who wake up at such awkward hours of the morning to bid the King farewell who fail to make it to their respective workplaces at 8am in the morning.

It is amazing how these people pretend to love the His Majesty more than the rest of us in the country.

The last two weeks saw long queues of people who wanted to get their vehicles registered and get permits at the Ministry of Public Works but the officials always report to their offices between 8.30am and 9am, resulting in daily long queues.

It is these very same people labebagila inkhosi at the airport as early as 4am.

I was impressed this week when Ncumbi Maziya, a member of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) also made reference of this occurrence in one of their electoral meetings.

He said the reason there was no delivery in Swaziland was because we have been electing greedy people (tidli) into Parliament.

This has resulted in very little progress and development in the communities around the country. Honestly speaking, Circular No.1 of 2010 has shown us the caliber of people we have in our government and Parliament.

The question then is: what are you, the common Swazi going to do about it?

Will you sit back and allow corruption to prevail?

Not long ago, we had an embarrassing November 28 statement.

Then it was Makhundu (60 days detention order).

From Makhundu, we ‘graduated’ to Spakatane and now we will suffer under this circular No.1 of 2010 despite a failing economy. Recently, the very same Prime Minister went to Bahamas to receive an award for good governance.

Good governance my foot! What has he done for Swaziland?

He has only succeeded in securing an attractive package for himself when he retires at the cost of the taxpayer.

I am happy though that the King Foundation has cleared the air that the award was presented to Swaziland and not Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini.

After having these meetings with the Campaign 2013 group, I was reassured that indeed the Tinkhundla system had not failed. It was the people tasked with running the system who had done more and failed the system.

In our first meeting, we sat for four hours discussing that Swaziland is borrowed from our children. It does not belong to us. In subsequent meetings, we looked at the loopholes in the Constitution of Swaziland and what measures could be taken to have it improved from just being a document into being the supreme law of Swaziland.

To date, we have not yet concluded our discussions on the Constitution.

However, they have already opened my eyes a great deal to the many problems that the Constitution faces.

The first problem faced by the Constitution is its ambiguity.

The Constitution does not have a separation of powers between the traditional and civil authorities.

Traditional authorities can meddle in civil matters at whim, to such an extent that we do not have a clear understanding as to who has the power to govern Swaziland between the traditional authorities and the people’s government in Parliament.

There is also no clear role of Parliament, as was witnessed when the Prime Minister went all out to intimidate the Speaker and President of both chambers.

I have found that it is more eye-opening to discuss the Constitution with other intellectuals since even the slightest point I may overlook, they bring to light.

While dissecting the Constitution, I realised that there were too many inconsistencies with some provisions in the Constitution and it was a matter of urgency for Parliament to amend and revise these provisions.

The problem is that we do not have an intelligent Parliament that would be willing to stand up for the nation against government and put forward these amendments.

After speaking to one of the Members of Parliament, I learnt that it was going to be difficult for them to amend any provision in the Constitution.

Obviously, this would render the Swazi nation hopeless towards finding a lasting solution. According to the Constitu-tion, any amendment must be made in a joint sitting of both the senate and House of Assembly.

For a joint sitting to be convened, certain procedures must be followed.

I learnt that out of 31 members from the Senate, 20 members are appointees, thereby creating an imbalance in democracy. This would make voting for an amendment difficult because the 20 members in the house of senate only serve the appointing authority and not the Swazi nation. So the only power that the people may have is in electing a credible number of men and women to serve the nation in the House of Assembly.

This is where Campaign2013 comes in.

Campaign2013 seeks to find credible men and women from all the chiefdoms in the country who will stand for the 2013 elections for MP and Indvuna Yenkhundla, respectively.

These men and women will be given a people driven mandate to foster whilst in Parliament, and work in tandem with the Indvuna Yenkhundla to bring about sound development to the communities in the country.

Campaign2013 is looking for men and women who have nothing to lose, and not people who will change once elected. Each prospective candidate will undergo a screening process to determine their capabilities once elected. Only qualifying candidates will then be promoted and campaigned for by Campaign2013 in the respective constituencies.

The campaign intends to fund prospective candidates, conduct surveys and interviews to ascertain the probability of success and ensure that the earmarked and ideal candidates find favour within the constituencies.

This creates the need for funding, and I would like to invite people concerned to support the campaign with any financial means possible.

The campaign is set to begin in January 2011 until the primary elections of 2013.

They will thereafter propel and assist their candidates with the secondary elections campaigning until the final voting process.

Efforts of the EBC are not enough in educating the Swazi about the elections and campaigning. This has created the need for Swaziland to have an independent campaign group that will increase the numbers in the 2013 elections as never seen before.

Swazis are encouraged to support and participate in the mandate that Campaign2013 seeks to achieve, for a better Swaziland.

Let me conclude by saying this is a genuine move to transform Swaziland into a true democracy under the Tinkhundla system of governance.

The parasites that have contributed to the downfall of this country must be given the boot in 2013 and that can only happen when Swaziland is united against evil and poverty.

With Campaign2013, ritual killings will be a thing of the past because deadwood representatives will be washed away by the tide of change and development that Swazis seek from the 2013 Parliament.

It is time for Swaziland to take a stand against the atrocities against the tax payer and the lavish spending the government of the day has undertaken.

For there to be change, let us come together and do away with this.

People can send suggestions and interested candidates’ names, inkhundla/chiefdom and contact information.

You can get further information by emailing campaign2013@ hotmail.com.

Current Members of Parliament, who have done nothing to serve the nation, beware.

Comments

Let us defend our identity as a nation,defend what rightfully belongs to the Swazi nation ,that is Tinkhundla the system of national unity.Young people must lead from the forefront as custodians and vanguards of tinkhundla.Sons and daughters of our soil ku diaspora have taken a conscience decision to plough back and defend the monarch and tinkhundla from political hyenas and pirates disguised as ultra traditionalists and loyalists Lets defend PRINCIPLE not BLIND LOYALTY...Come 2013 heads shall roll.This is not a threat but a programme of action.Tinkhundla temaswati antsi ema party ebaholi nebalandzeli.
October 11, 2010, 6:42 pm, Kaboscamelosemntfwana (zoe4@webmail.co.za)

　

　

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