Building Strong Political Institutions

Zimbabwe Parliament Building

"My journey into politics has presented me with various challenges, some that are beyond my control and I believe require individuals to embrace changed mindsets, for without embracing a new way of thinking our expectations will remain framed around the same tried, tested and failed political culture of campaign promises that are never transformed to visible outcomes." 

The general expectation by the ordinary citizen when presented with a new political entity and leadership is to find it in a perfectly functional condition with clearly articulated strategies and transparent structures. However being a new entity usually means that may not always be the actual case as building political structures requires certain democratic principles to be embraced for the purposes of transparency and accountability.

In order to achieve a reasonable standard of democratic compliance a new political entity must ensure they recruit a team of individuals with certain competency levels. Competency is in most cases associated with individual's levels of literacy, education and experience. However most ordinary citizens join political parties as volunteers unlike when one seeks to paid employment and has to present their C.V to be considered for an interview for the advertised role.

Joining a political party does not demand that one has any special qualities to be accepted as a member, in most political institutions participation is measured based on ones passion and commitment, however that alone presents it's own complex challenges unless the political entity has the time and resources to provide training and mentoring of it's team members into their chosen roles of responsibility. The main challenge in building the necessary competence levels of political entities in Zimbabwe is the lack of free training opportunities to offer learning opportunities that can enhance the knowledge and skills needed by aspiring leaders to understand their roles and responsibilities in order to be effective representatives in their target communities.

The lack of a fair political party funding policy, the lack of a legislated political party registration system that can act as a guide and validation body for the authentication of political parties in Zimbabwe has left citizens exposed to the risk of joining bogus political parties led by opportunist individuals that are most likely to pursue their personal interests rather than the interests of members and target communities that they intend to serve. I guess some may ask how can you tell the difference between a bogus party and a sincere political entity?

Well for starters surely any authentic entity should have a physical address that they use as their offices, a website that shares information about their party's policies and leadership, a bank account opened in the name of the political party and traceable references from other public institutions that can also act as validation agents. Currently it seems validation is based on media publicity and keeping up appearances with more established political entities who have participated in general elections and may have parliamentary representation.

There is not much that we see being shared by some political parties in terms of community development initiatives like fundraising for building of clinics, schools or even helping with renovations of some of the now dilapidated public service buildings like community halls. Important lessons could be learnt from earlier examples from the late father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo who inspired the use of demobilisation funds to create income generating cooperatives for Ex-ZIPRA freedom fighters and the late former President Canaan Banana who donated his farm by converting it to an Agricultural College in Marondera.

Why should opposition politics be mainly focused on public demonstrations and protest action when there are so many other critical issues affecting society like the shortage of water in most parts of the country, the shortage of medical equipment in most of our old health institutions, etc. etc.? Are we going to focus on only highlighting the failures of the Zanu PF government without offering practical competitive alternatives? Is the sole aim of opposition political parties to remove Zanu PF from government or should they also be partners in seeking solutions to the development of Zimbabwe?

I know the common argument by opposition that they need power in order to implement their election promises but I do not believe that should limit what they can do to contribute to change in Zimbabwe. We do not need to always have funding to bring change but can act as a bridge to facilitate community investment partnerships with potential investors. It can be as simple as sign posting members of the public to lucrative opportunities be it learning, business or any other than can help enhance the quality of life.

So what progressive role should opposition parties play in defining Zimbabwe's future? Should sole focus be on opposing current government policies and calling for demonstration and protest action against their retrogressive policies and decisions or should all this also be complemented by introducing alternative practical examples that work to improve the lives of citizens whilst fighting for changes in policy positions?

Political parties are not government institutions that have access to tax and other public generated revenue to deliver a high standard of public services but entities that can only survive through donations received from general public well wishers and sympathetic investors who see value in the policy positions proposed by the political parties. Working for a political party is mainly a voluntary role that in most cases is not bound by time but requires one to be discipled in terms of having the ability to work as part of a collective group seeking to accomplish common objectives.

"Communication, effort and consistency are the key elements for any successful political campaign."~ Nathan Banana