Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini told
parliamentarians their duty was to the king above all else.
This is the latest twist in the national election that
took place in Swaziland in September 2013. King Mswati III rules Swaziland as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and political parties were banned
from taking part in the election.
Dlamini, who was directly appointed Prime Minister by the
King, gave his instructions to parliamentarians at a workshop on their role on
Monday (25 November 2013).
He told them, ‘We are here working on the instruction of
the King and the nation.’ He said that Swaziland had a ‘unique democracy.’
He added, ‘This is because we were voted into power
through the various methods permitted by our exclusive Constitution.’
However, in fact few parliamentarians were elected. Swaziland’s
political system is known as tinkhundla, or a monarchical democracy. Under this
system only 55 members of the 65- strong House of Assembly are elected by the people.
The King directly appoints 10 members.
No members of the 30-stong Senate are elected by the people.
The King appoints 20 senators and the other 10 are elected by members of the House
of Assembly.
All cabinet ministers were appointed by King Mswati.
Following the election he appointed nine princes and princesses to the House
of Assembly and the Senate.
He also appointed
another 16 members of his Royal Family to top political jobs; effectively
carving up public life in the kingdom in his favour.
Shortly before the election, King Mswati announced he had
received a vision during a thunderstorm which told him that henceforth the
political system in his kingdom should
be known as a ‘monarchical democracy’. He said this would be ‘a system
formed by merging the will of the people with the monarch’.
He went on to say in this system, people cast votes on a
ballot box to decide leaders from community level. These leaders then work with
the monarch in governing the country.
However, the appointments after the election were overwhelmingly of
people who did not stand for election.
The power wielded by King Mswati was criticised by two
independent international groups which observed the Swazi election. Both the African
Union and the Commonwealth Observer Mission suggested the kingdom’s
constitution should be reviewed to allow political parties to contest
elections.
The Commonwealth
Observer Mission added that, ‘The presence of the monarch in the structure
of everyday political life inevitably associates the institution of the
monarchy with politics, a situation that runs counter to the development that
the re-establishment of the Parliament and the devolution of executive
authority into the hands of elected officials.’
See also
NO TOP PARLIAMENTARIANS WERE ELECTED
KING APPOINTS SIX OF HIS FAMILY TO SENATE
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/king-appoints-6-of-his-family-to-senate.html
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