MDC should go back to it's founding principles

MDC has been urged to go back to its founding principles in an opinion piece by Ambrose B Chimbganda.

"To achieve these ideals, the party needs to subject itself to the collective will of the people.

"This involves adopting a transparent and democratic electoral system, where the rules are clearly defined so that you do not end up with aspiring candidates who feel that the electoral process has been manipulated in favour of certain candidates, who may be considered to be the "holy cows" of the party.

Perhaps the most important task for the congress is to elect the leader of the party. The key question that the party should answer is: who is entitled to choose the leader?

"What does the MDC constitution say about the process of choosing the party leader?

"Experiences elsewhere shows that disputes arise mainly from the fact that the process of nominating the leader is not transparent enough and the power of branches, districts and regions to elect the leader is not clearly defined. Also, it is often unclear what sort of a leader the party wants.

"Finally, in order to foster greater internal unity, the party needs to adopt a deliberate policy of a quota system for specific ethnic minorities, such as the white community because of its unique origin.

"Once again, representation should be based on "maximum inclusion" so as to enjoy greater popular support. This should also include a gender quota policy which defines the minimum percentage of females at various levels of the national leadership."