‘Citizens prefer leaders who are available’ – Chamisa tells aspiring candidates
Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has advised aspiring candidates in his party that “citizens prefer representatives who are visible, accessible and available”.
This comes as CCC announced last week that it had set Wednesday 5 April as the day to find suitable party representatives to contest the 2023 elections on the opposition’s ticket.
The party’s elections officer Ian Makone said the process is going to be overseen by an Independent Candidate Selection Panel (ICSP).
Only communities that have signed into the CCC’s database will select the party representative they want to stand at council, parliament and presidential level.
In an interview with NewZimbabwe.Com, Chamisa highlighted several issues regarding the upcoming CCC candidate selection including what citizens expect from aspiring leaders.
“It’s novel and it’s modern and places the citizen at the centre of the process. Citizenocracy is government by the citizens. It’s a citizenocratic selection process,” Chamisa said.
“Citizens want candidates to be selected on merit, integrity, dignity, suitability and accountability. Citizens prefer representatives who are visible, accessible and available.
“Those leaders who regularly report back to constituencies and communities to get instructions and progress on policies and national priorities of public interest.
“All these are going to be considered through a rigorous vetting panel that looks at these critical tests.”
The main opposition leader added that in the event that more candidates nominated, citizens caucuses constituted by those who have subscribed to citizen philosophy and ideology in the constituency or in a particular ward, are convened.
He said “the process also involves wide consultation with stakeholders in that particular constituency or ward.
“We are introducing citizens’ candidates’ policy debates where various contestants present their manifestos before the citizens finally make the decision,” he said.
Chamisa said the process is going to be citizen based.
“It will be the community consensus presided over by a Citizens Candidates Independent Selection panel. The citizens will interrogate the nominees. We call this manifesto pitching,” the CCC leader explained.
“Once complete it is citizens who then democratically choose their own candidates through a consensus. This is why we call this Democratic Community Consensus System,” Chamisa said.
