MPs have sold our democracy cheaply – Sensio
By Tony Nkhoma
ZAMBIANS are facing serious economic and social hardships because parliamentarians have decided to sell the country’s democracy cheaply for financial benefits, former Kasenengwa member of Parliament Sensio Banda has said.
Banda told The Mast in an interview the current crop of members of Parliament (MPs) would find it difficult to rebuild the broken public trust they had commanded at some point after betraying the people of Zambia.
“Accountability may be delayed, but it is rarely denied. Constituents will one day demand explanations, without envelopes, protection or rehearsed justifications. Leadership requires sacrifice, not convenience,” Banda said.
He reminded the MPs that a parliamentary seat was not personal property but a public trust.
Banda said in a constitutional democracy, parliament was meant to be the final shield between state power and the people.
“When citizens conclude that MPs can be bought, elections lose moral weight, and political participation gives way to apathy. The poor pay first and pay most. Parliamentary records and public memory endure longer than political excuses,” he said.
Banda reminded the MPs that when a vote was traded for money, favours, or promises, it was not merely a position sold, but the independence and freedom of the people.
“MPs are not hired contractors executing instructions from financiers or party hierarchies; they are elected to exercise independent judgment on behalf of citizens,” he said.
Banda said a short-term legislative win achieved through inducement produced a long-term institutional decay and destroyed the principle of good governance.
“Defenders of inducements often hide behind phrases like ‘party discipline’ or ‘political reality. But constitutional amendments are not routine business. They reshape the balance of power, representation, and accountability,” Banda said.
He said parliamentary decisions demand the highest ethical standards among MPs, saying inducing votes on constitutional matters was not pragmatism, but constitutional destruction.
“When MPs are seen as purchasable, debate becomes performance, oversight weakens, and Parliament risks becoming an extension of executive will rather than a check upon it,” he said.
Banda warned that any member of parliament who feared those in power more than the voters had abandoned the electorate and should be ready to face the wrath of those who elected him.
“When parliament becomes a parley of inducements, democracy is placed on auction. And when democracy is sold, it is never the powerful who suffer most; it is the ordinary citizen whose voice is discounted and whose future is bargained away. Zambia deserves a Parliament guided by conscience, not receipts,” said Banda.
