THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

NAME:

SEKELANI LUNGU

COMPUTER NO:

12110388

LECTURER:

MR. B.G. MUSONDELA

COURSE:

PA 125

ASSIGNMENT NO:

TWO

DUE DATE:

21st January, 2013

QUESTION:
With the help of appropriate examples, critically discuss citizen participation in public affairs in
Zambia.

ADDRESS:

UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

This essay will seek to critically discuss the nature and impact of citizen participative
phenomenon in public affairs in Zambia. Public affairs relates to business matters that are made
known to the public and have to do with the general population of a country. Citizen
participation is critical to government leaders and bureaucrats at all levels to ensure that they
know the intensity of challenges facing and affecting the citizens. Active citizen participation
helps ensure that the governmental decisions and policies reflect the public interest (Boris and
Krehely, 2002). Citizen participation is necessary as well for decreasing citizens doubts and
distrust of the government.
Some of the activities which Zambian citizens actively participate in include politics,
development, civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and the media and these are explained below. Public affairs combine government relations,
media communications, issue management, corporate and social responsibility information
dissemination and strategic communications advice.
Even though public input is meant for citizens to have a direct role in governmental decisions,
many government agencies choose to exclude citizen participation. Many administrators claim
citizen participation may be unproductive and costly because it disrupts the government routine,
few citizens appear at meetings and not many participants know a meetings issues or rules.
When government agencies must consult with citizens, the agencies usually arrange for a
meeting after the agencies policy/programs are nearly complete. At this point, the agencies are
really only asking the public for political support (King and Stivers, 1998). Because this meeting
is so late in the process, if the citizens disagree and they push hard for the policy/program to be
changed the resulting actions could drain the agencies resources. Thus, late or delayed citizen
participation can be very expensive and very time consuming.
If citizens are involved in the decision-making process from the start, they are usually more
supportive and proactive in helping the stakeholders to achieve the ultimate outcome of the
government plan. The government may discover that a person who from the start encourages
dialogue, evaluates programs, and encourages change for the better may help much more than a
person who does this late in the process (Goodsell, 1994). Thus, the social benefits of timely

citizen involvement, which corresponds to the overall, long-range goals of citizen participation,
are worthwhile to citizens and government.
As citizens participation in public affairs has increased over the decades, general advantages and
disadvantages to citizens and the government also grew (Irvin and Stansbury, 2004; King and
Stivers, 1998). Advantages range from educating citizens about the pros and cons of an issue to
improving policy and implementation to building commitment and stronger trust on both sides.
After intense discussion and education, each side may understand each others points and reasons
and be able to move forward to a consensus about a potential result. Consequently, investment
and commitment to public participation by all involved can help tremendously when creating and
implementing local policy and laws.
In other instances citizen participation is disadvantaged. This may be attributed to improper
responses by government to attempted public participation. When government agencies or
interest groups are against viewing any side of an issue that is opposite to theirs, they may not
strive to educate, negotiate or encourage citizen involvement. In these cases, it is even more
necessary for government staff and citizens to be free from this kind of domination so they can
truly participate for the good of the public. Nevertheless, the basic ethical principles of fairness,
competence, and equal participation for all participants - citizens or government employees - are
clearly necessary. Every person needs to be able to participate in an open discourse so
collaboration and consensus building can evolve. Each person needs to know all the rules of the
participation so discussion is on a level playing field.
Regularly scheduled meetings that are well-publicized help citizens arrange their time to be able
to attend. Regular meetings also indicate the commitment that government has to the process.
Irregular or one-time meetings that are not well-advertised through fliers, notices or mail may
prevent people from being able to plan to attend or may dissuade them from thinking their ideas
are important. Also typical top-down managerial method of decision-making, in which the
officials dictate decisions and then pass them down to the front-line operators, inhibits citizen
participation. An effective bottom-up approach, in which the front-line operators pass ideas to the

officials, tends to be more accepting of the citizens who usually only meet with the agencys
front-line operators.
Passive citizens tend to keep participation at a low level, since they do not see how their actions
or opinions could be important or could change the direction of the government policies.
Assisting citizens in learning about important issues can raise interest and more actively engage
in participation. Ignorance about an issue may not help a discussion, except to point out that
education is clearly lacking and needs to be done on a far broader and deeper scale. Ignorance
among citizens also can deter government officials from encouraging citizen involvement.
McMasters pointed out, The more secretive a government, the more distant it becomes from its
citizens and their wisdom, ingenuity and support (2005).
Some citizens may not see the importance of participation in public affairs. This is usually
evident when it comes to voting were voter apathy is experienced. Among the causes for
insufficient direct citizen participation, the most prominent ones are:

Domination of a political culture that is not affirmative towards the citizen participation,
and a low level of knowledge and awareness among citizens as to their rights and
freedoms, and of the competencies of particular levels of government,

Lack of citizen interest in public life caused by poor living conditions, lack of time,
information and knowledge,

Undeveloped and ineffective practice of direct citizen participation,

Insufficiently developed legal and political framework for a larger citizen participation,
and, in particular, the lack of a clear national strategy regarding the participation of
citizens at the local level, and concrete obligations of local authorities towards citizens,

Insufficient decentralization of power, and low financial capacity of local governments,

and their large dependence on the bodies of the Republic and

Inadequate local electoral system, having adverse effects on the representation of the
whole population in the local assemblies.

Representation on every facet of an issue or affected group is important for discussion of agenda
items at an appropriate level of understanding. Some groups need to seek out disadvantaged,
powerless, and deprived people because their experience and needs are part of the groups goals.
Some reasons people resist becoming involved include lack of transportation, no access to
computers/email, difficulty speaking the language, and fear to state opinions.
Because these variables can have a positive or negative effect on citizen participation, there must
be need to focus on which variables could encourage the greatest participation.
Zambian citizen participation in public affairs ranges from public meetings to advisory boards to
protests to voting. Public hearings tend to give administrators the greatest amount of control of
which information is provided and how citizens participate, whereas advisory committees can be
the most cost-effective. Citizens are usually comfortable attending meetings that focus on the
citizen input than rules of participation. Community members who lack access to the rules can be
frustrated that their concerns are not truly listened to and feel the reason for the public meeting
was not valid. Thus fewer citizens would probably attend the meeting on the issue or on future
issues. Even though public hearings are considered wasteful and worthless (Burby, 2003), they
should be used as long as the law requires citizen involvement.
Strengthening relations with citizens through public affairs is a sound investment in better
policy-making and a core element of good governance. It allows government to tap new sources
of policy-relevant ideas, information and resources when making decisions. Also important, it
contributes to building public trust in government, raising the quality of democracy and
strengthening civic capacity which in turn helps strengthen representative democracy, in which
parliaments play a central role.
Overcoming the causes and problems, first of all, requires raising awareness and creating
conviction in the citizens that their participation is necessary and desirable. Raising awareness
should be the foundation of the national policy, and it demands a wider formal education (civic
education), the creation of a program for education of older population through seminars,
educational campaigns, and other forms of communication with citizens, as well as closer
cooperation with organized forms of civic activity, such as non-governmental organizations.

Citizens also participate in public affairs through their associations with different CSOs and
NGOs. Raising awareness of civic activism and cooperation of government authorities with civil
society organizations and non-governmental organizations has a very significant role in making
the citizens voices heard in the running of national affairs. Government authorities should
understand the value of the existing non-governmental sector, and should do whatever is
necessary to support it. Associations of citizens and non-governmental organizations have a great
influence on the development of a society as a whole, and especially on direct participation of
citizens in local public life and the decision-making process. Non-governmental organizations
support the prevention of the passivity of citizens, and offer to citizens the opportunity to voice
what they deem important for the development of the local environment. Also, non-governmental
organizations are significant for broader education of citizens, and for raising awareness of the
necessity of their participation in the public life, as well as for their information about the issues
important for their local communities. Participation of citizens in the process of creation,
adoption and implementation of decisions produces an active civil society of responsible and
involved citizens.
Moreover, with active participation in non-governmental organizations, citizens can overcome
the barriers related to inaccessibility of public institutions. Therefore, the recognition of the
needs and interests of the citizens, the articulation of these needs and interests and their
subsequent public representation through associations of citizens is significant for raising
awareness and useful for harvesting the energy existent in every community.
Zambian citizens also participate in politics. This is of great significance because it promotes
promotion democracy in the country. Active political participation can also be important
particularly in countries that are in the process of creating a modern, political and economic
system. Increased participation of Zambian citizens in public life, and particularly in the
decision-making process, can lead to more equality and provide more legitimacy for the
decisions of the government authorities.
The obligation of the authorities to secure transparency of their activities, and to provide
information about their work, are just the basic and initial steps in the realization of, in terms of

volume and meaning, far broader rights of citizens to direct participation in the process of
governance. In order for the citizens to be able to take part in the democratic process of
performing public affairs and be truly active subjects in the control of the governmental bodies,
they must have access to information available to these bodies and this is one of the basic
principles that encourage citizens to participate in the political decision-making process.
The right to petition and the right to public criticism of authorities imply the right of every
citizen to submit proposals, suggestions, requests, criticisms and complaints to the government
bodies. Citizens may, individually or collectively, make informal proposals through a petition for
adoptions or changes of regulations, submit requests and suggest the resolution of a specific
issue or the issuing of an individual act. They may also propose the method for resolving an issue
of public importance, or direct criticisms and submit complaints on irregular and illegal acts of
government bodies towards them.
Public debate provides an opportunity for every individual to discuss all issues and to critically
re-examine them for the purpose of finding adequate solutions. While assemblies of citizens, i.e.
political gatherings, are organized for a closed circle of citizens living on that territory, public
debates happen solely when they involve the broadest public, i.e. a broad circle of citizens.
As such, they exist in democratic countries, for example Zambia, and are an important form of
citizen consultation about their priorities, which the authorities must fully take into account in
order to perform their duties in accordance with the expectations and needs of the citizens in
their local communities.
There must be institutional set-up is in place to elicit and encourage citizen participation in
national political life, local decision making, community affairs or, for that matter, in the
economic market place. These institutions and practices should be accessible to all people
without discrimination. The political space for participation should be equally distributed among
different groups and communities so that they can assemble freely. People's participation as an
integral element of change and development has long been acknowledged.

Peoples participation in national affairs, at all levels, is central to the attainment of the liberal
and egalitarian goals set forth in the constitution. The governments responsibility may be that of
maintaining democracy in the country through wider participation of the people in governance
through the medium of decentralisation of power. While the constitution as a whole provides a
framework for democratic governance at the macro level, it is rather silent on many critical
domains of participation, e.g., local self-government and devolution of power. The leaders of
political parties have thus been free to interpret devolution and decentralisation in a manner that
suits their parochial interests. As a result, local bodies still exist as extensions of the central
administration rather than as autonomous institutions of local self-government accountable to the
electorate.
A vibrant democratic community provides for a free and willing participation of its members in
all aspects and levels of public and community life. It is such participation that ensures fair play
in a liberal society by requiring accountability in governance at all levels and eliciting civic and
community interests from all citizens. It is such participation that also ensures fair distribution of
rights, responsibilities and returns for the diverse membership of the society. The actual
representative character of a nominally representative government depends upon such
participation. The concept of peoples sovereignty becomes a farce without it. A broad based
development is predicated on it. And, even the market economy cannot really function or sustain
itself -as theoretically envisaged without it.
This essay has adequately critically discussed citizen participation in Zambia. Citizens have
participating in exercising their democratic right of voting hence enhancing democracy in the
country. Civil society organisations and non-governmental organizations have been working with
communities in which they operate from in the areas of development and education for the
economic well being of the nation. Citizens have been encouraged to take part in different public
affairs activities of their country.

REFERENCES
Boris, E. T., & Krehely, J., Civic participation and advocacy. Washington, DC: Brookings
Institution, 2002.
Burby, R., Making plans that matter: citizen involvement and government action. Journal of the
American Planning Association, 2003.
Goodsell, C.T., The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic. New York:
Chatham House Publishers, 1994.
Irvin, R.A., & Stansbury, J., Citizen participation in decision making: is it worth the effort?
Public Administration Review, 2004.
King, C.S., & Stivers, C., Government Is Us: Public Administration in an Anti-Government Era.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998.
McMasters, P., Secrecy in an open society. St. Petersburg Times, 2005.
Phil Harris, Craig S Fleisher., Handbook of Public Affairs. Sage Publications, London, 2005.
Stivers, C., The public agency as polis: Active citizenship in the Administrative State.
Administration and Society, 1990.