FAILURE BY POLITICAL PARTIES TO RE-ENERGISE THEMSELVES AND RE-ALIGN THEIR ACTIVITIES

By Dr Alphonse Gelu

While the Registry is planning a number of activities in 2016 to promote political parties, the Registrar Dr Alphonse Gelu is still concern about the lack of interest and promise shown by some political parties. Dr Gelu is concern especially with the smaller parties who many do not have Members in Parliament. These small parties are weak on many fronts and they have been continuously reminded to re-organise themselves in order for them to contribute and participate in the discussions concerning national and international issues. They also need to “pull up their socks” when participating in forums organised by the Registry. These small parties have been the target for Dr Gelu and the Registry since 2013. The Learning and Development Workshops that the Registry has delivered to all the parties since 2013 is working for some parties while others have not learned anything and have not embraced what Dr Gelu has been reminding them about and what is important for them to enable them to function effectively. To be a real serious player in the elections and in our system of parliamentary democracy, these smaller parties as well some bigger ones who are currently in government must make sure that they have the following in place; Well drawn up party structure Have all the executives in place – President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. It is simply unthinkable to have a party without any of these executive members. Party must have an address and location for its operations Must have a updated constitution Must have updated party policies Must have membership throughout the country Must at least have some funds in place These are the most important things that all political parties must have in order for them to be competitive in the political cycle of the country. Without some or any of the above then the country would continue to have small groupings that would not have any impact on the development of the country. This is the message that Dr Gelu has been expressing since 2013.