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Politician, academic Oliver Silumbe has said there is need for continuous political and voter education for the country’s democracy to mature.
Silumbe, Leadership Movement (LM) Head of Research and Innovation, said that Zambians would continue making wrong choices during elections and ending with bad leaders if they were not equipped with voter education.
“We need serious political and voter education in this country, voters do not follow party manifestos but temporal things like a bag of mealie meal and ending up making bad choices,” he said.
Silumbe said in an interview on Friday that the just ended ward by-election in three selected parts of the country show that party manifestos no longer matter in choosing candidates by “those who cook big nshima”.
He said he saw how those with power and financial muscles-controlled campaigns without voters challenging the motives but later gave them votes.
Read more : ‘Party manifesto not romantic promises,’ Ex-information minister urges UPND to live up to its pledges
Silumbe is a researcher at Zambia Research Development Centre (ZRDC) and Dean, school of engineering at Information and Communication University Zambia.
He said despite poverty and squalor, people have continued voting for the same people perpetuating poverty in the country.
Silumbe said, LM would not relent but take it upon themselves to educate the citizenry about making choices that change their way of living.
He said despite performing badly in the last by-election, his party would forge ahead and bring sanity in the political arena.
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