Parliament should pass a law that will compel political parties to disclose their sources of campaign funds before the country is mortgaged, says the Forum for Democracy and Development.
And FDD president Edith Nawakwi says Zambia is in desperate need of leadership.
In a statement, FDD spokesperson Antonio Mwanza stated that the party was concerned about the manner in which some political parties were soliciting for huge sums of money and campaign materials from foreign sources.
“Parliament should pass legislation compelling all political parties to disclose their sources of funding for their campaigns to ensure national security and protection of sovereign economic integrity,” he stated.
Mwanza stated that the country risked being mortgaged to foreigners who were sponsoring some of the political parties.
“We risk mortgaging our country to foreign interests who are busy sponsoring some of our colleagues with a view to controlling our economy and taking hold of our natural resources once their puppets form government,” he stated.
Mwanza urged political parties to be wary of politicians “gallivanting all over the globe” soliciting for funds from foreign entities as such deals could jeopardise Zambia’s sovereignty.
And in an interview before she addressed scores of supporters who gathered at the party’s provincial offices in Mongu yesterday, Nawakwi, who is on a campaign tour of Western Province ahead of the January 20, 2015 presidential elections, said Zambia was not looking for slogans but an inspiring and caring leadership that would restore citizens’ dignity and self-determination.
She said FDD had strong ethos which it had upheld for many years.
Nawakwi also stressed the need for politicians to realise that the reason most women were “sitting at the roadside” was lack of survival alternatives.
“I get upset myself because if our politicians think that our mothers, our young people are going to continue to sit by the road for the rest of their lives…and it also points to lack of understanding on why we have literally six million Zambians sitting by the road or eaning a living by carrying a hoe and an axe going into the field,” said Nawakwi.