THE CHURCH, LABOUR AND THE PRESS IN ZAMBIA: THE ROLE OF CRITICAL OBSERVERS IN A ONE-PARTY STATE

Abstract

Introduction THE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE one s government is regarded as one of the fundamental features of a democracy. This seems at first glance to be incompatible with the existence of one-party states. Indeed, the very mention of one-party states to one only familiar with current Western parliamentary systems stirs up feelings about a political system totally suffocated by the heavy-handedness of authoritarianism. Even wellinformed critics and supporters of one-party states tend to paint the dark side of their experiences when describing these states. In the case of postcolonial African states, this view is not surprising; the Ghanaian, Busia, observed that the one-party state had been achieved through various ways in different countries, by mergers, dissolution, absorption, or suppression of opposition parties. As far as West Africa is concerned, Professor Arthur Lewis finds it significant that no party now in power went to the polls in a free election seeking a mandate to create a single-party system .... Sirlgle-party power was seized, not granted by voters. 1 Except for Tanzania and a handful of other African states, all African countries emulated the West African example of imposing one-party constitutions on their people. In Zambia, for example, a national commission was established prior to the introduction of a one-party state in 1973. The commission was charged among other things, with the responsibility of assessing opinions and receiving suggestions from various groups across the country regarding the proposed one-party state structure.2 This gesture, however, was not a substitute for a referendum or a popular poll on the issue. Additionally, the repressive orientation found in most of these states and subsequent military coups have tended to confirm Western fears about one-party states and to promote stereotyped images of their 'sham' democracy. Consequently, objective studies of democratic experiments and developments in one-party states of Africa have been extremely rare. 3