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National Democratic Congress (NDC) president, Saboi Imboela, has rejected claims that Zambian women prefer development over democracy, saying such assertions are false and dangerous.
Imboela was responding to remarks attributed to Florence Chileshe, a newly appointed female UPND Member of Parliament brought into Parliament through the proportional representation system, who reportedly claimed to speak on behalf of Zambian women.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Tuesday, Imboela said she was deeply disappointed as a woman, leader and Zambian after watching a video clip of Chileshe making the remarks.
She questioned who had given the MP the mandate to speak for all Zambian women, saying women had never said they did not want democracy.
“Zambian women have never at any point said we do not want democracy. We fought for democracy. We marched for the re-introduction of multi-party democracy. We queued for hours to vote for democracy,” Imboela said.
She said the suggestion that women wanted development without democracy was an insult to their intelligence, questioning what development could exist without freedom of expression, the right to vote and the ability to hold leaders accountable.
“It was the absence of democracy that kept women out of Parliament for decades. It is democracy that created the PR system that she herself has benefited from,” Imboela stated.
Imboela said development and democracy were complementary and rejected the notion that citizens must choose between the two.
“Development without democracy is not development – it is dependence. It is handouts that can be withdrawn. It is projects that collapse because no one was allowed to question them,” Imboela said.
She said Zambian women wanted clinics with medicines and the right to complain when medicines were unavailable, as well as empowerment funds and accountability for those who misused them.
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Imboela said an inclusive Parliament should promote democracy rather than weaken it, arguing that the introduction of proportional representation for women, youth and persons with disabilities was intended to deepen democratic participation.
She expressed disappointment that a woman who should be advocating for an expanded democratic space was instead being used to justify what she described as efforts to shrink it.
“If you truly believe Zambian women do not want democracy, ask the marketeer who wants to elect her council chair, ask the girl in university who wants to debate freely, ask the widow who wants to go to court to protect her land,” she said.
The NDC leader called on women MPs, regardless of political affiliation, to distance themselves from the remarks and said an apology was owed to Zambian women.
Imboela said women were not enemies of democracy but among its strongest defenders, and rejected the idea that they should have to choose between democracy and development.
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