STATUS OF THE RULING PARTY-A-VIS THE GOVERNMENT AND RELATED MATTERS

1. Relationship of the Ruling Party to the Government; Formation, Registration and Regulation of Political Parties.

The commission recommends that:

1. The party that wins an election should detach itself from the government, its functions, operations, material and human resources.

   This is ACCEPTED.

2. There should be no limit to the number of political parties.

   This is ACCEPTED.

3. Appropriate legislation to be enacted to regulate the formation of political parties so as to ensure that such parties are not tribally based.

   This is ACCEPTED.

4. The power to ban a political party can only vest in the Executive courts of law.

This is ACCEPTED.

1. Assets of the Ruling Party (UNIP); Government Grants to Political Parties; Leader of the opposition in the House.

The commission recommends that:

1. Political parties with any number of seats in parliament be assisted with government grants, through parliament, in equal amounts subject to accountability to parliament.

   This is ACCEPTED but the grant should be proportionate to the number of seats in parliament.

2. Financial assistance to political parties from outside the country should be channelled through the Ministry of Finance.

   This is ACCEPTED with the amendment that "…such funding shall be channelled through the Central Bank."

3. The leader of the political party that secures the next highest number of seats in parliament should be recognised as the Official Leader of the Opposition and accorded appropriate status and facilities.

This is ACCEPTED if government is formed by a president from a party with a majority in parliament, but in the event of a President with a minority in parliament, the majority leader will become leader of the opposition. However, for a party to be recognised as official opposition, it must have at least 25% of the seats in parliament.

On the question of assets acquired by the ruling party, UNIP, the commission wishes to note that the law relating to title on the subject is well settled.

This is NOTED.