CURRENT ZAMBIAN ASSOCIATION FLAWS To all our brothers and sisters of Zambian origin who reside in Dallas Texas community. We greet you in the wonderful name of our lord Jesus Christ. This message is sent to you all just to enlighten you about the current situation that had engulfed our community of late. Just for those that might not be so much involved in what has been going on in our community, we currently have a registered association which has been acting as mother body of all Zambians living in Dallas community. This association was officially launched and registered about 2 years ago and since then it has been functioning independently with little interference from our community. However issues of poor governance, non-transparency and manipulation started being noticed by most of Dallas members after the death of Brother Johnson Kaumba and Natasha Mwanakatwe. Since the time of Kaumba’s funeral, complaints have been going round among our people but no official statement has been issued from our leaders to address the community’s concerns, therefore, we have finally decided to let the whole community know what has been observed by the majority of our people. ASSOCIATION REGISTRATION 1. Our current association which is supposed to be registered by a group of Zambian leaders elected by general elections is unfortunately registered by a single person making it difficult to make changes unless he agrees to do so. 2. Our association which is supposed to be registered as nonprofit social group like a church is unfortunately registered as a cooperation and connected to some telecommunication phone card business with its current leader as CEO and few committee members as board of directors making it functioning as business cooperation and a profit making organization. 3. Our association is registered under a constitution that most of you have never heard of or adopted, and if given a chance to analyze it, you would notice clauses that makes it impossible to change leadership due to the exclusive authority they gave themselves as decision makers. This is what makes it difficult for any of them to be discipline by the majority of us through our public vote, petition or elections except their voting system as a committee. ASSOCIATION OWNERSHIP • Therefore, as things stand, the Zambian association in Dallas is solemnly owned by an individual as his own personal business according to Texas law and records, he can’t be removed by our vote or by community petitions except by a 90% vote of their committee vote as it is stipulated in their constitution. • We the Zambian community are therefore considered as clients and association committee members as board of directors. • The current association is not something that belongs to the community as other associations that existed before but instead it’s an entity that is solemnly owned and controlled by an individual. ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION The original constitution which has been used as frame work of all other past association was discarded and a new constitution was written and adopted by them; all clauses were doctored to protect them from being questioned, interrogated, summoned or removed as long as one of their members votes NO to the motion on table. We urge the public to take time and read this document to see how skewed it is. It is there to protect themselves but not to foster the interest of the Zambian general populations that live in Dallas In fact reports reaching the community is that since issues started getting exposed slowly, the constitution has been amended secretly, removing some of the pertinent issues we are exposing today. But fortunately some of our community members have the original document as it has been. ASSOCIATION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT The association has been micro managed. Most of the decision are made with little or no involvement of the general populace and anytime they are questioned about the poor transparency of their operations, answer such as “who do they think they are”, “we are not answerable to them”, “those are former failure leaders”, “don’t mind them” etc are some of the answers that some people have been told in privacy. The association has been in assistance for almost 2 years and people have been paying for membership about $100 per year without any financial report be publicized until recently after twisting their arm that they produced something without indicating the source of funds and the items money was spent on. Some of the Zambians living in Dallas have paid for a full year life insurances without furnishing them with receipts, insurance companies they are insured with, no documentation of any kind, no medical or physical examinations of any sort which we all know is supposed to be done before a contract is done. No any other financial report has ever been reported stating the source of money and the expenditures involved until recently after a tag of war almost erupted when the embassy came over to speak to us through Mr. Mulenga during what was called a town hall meeting. Reports have been circulating that a lot of money was raised during Kamba and Natasha’s deaths from our community and other cooperating partners that came to our help but alas, until today this association claims to be owing the Johnson Funeral Home of Fort-worth about $2000 concerning Kaumba’s funeral. They also claim to be paying for this balance out of pocket. How these leaders manage to pay for Kamba’s expenses out of pocket is a mystery that only them can explain. ASSOCIATION’S MISMANAGEMENT & EXPULSIONS This is the first association ever to have the history of expelling fellow Zambians from it without any suggestion of where that Zambian will belong to in diaspora knowing that he lives in Dallas. Some of our brothers had been expelled before just because they questioned the facts we are stating here. This was possible for them because according to their constitution they have a right to expel, fire, suspend or punish their clients or employee just like a cooperation does. We feel that no Zambian should be expelled and be barred from being part of the association as long as he is a Zambia living in Dallas. There are many ways and measures we can utilize to discipline an erring fellow Zambians instead of sending them away from the community where they belong. ASSOCIATION BIASNESS This association has a syndrome of being biased and selective in the way they handle their day to day business and application of their constitution. While their constitution states categorically that a Zambian who haven’t paid up their annual membership of $100 can’t be assisted by the association, a rule which they applied on one Zambian brother who lives in Mesquite Texas; the same association had overlooked this clause on Natasha Mwanakatwe and Johnson Kaumba who both were not paid up member. This inconsistency is uncalled for and must be controlled. We are all Zambians, therefore, we must be treated equally and fairly. These are some of the laws we have to come together as a community to deal away with. ASSOCIATION ELECTIONS This association and its leadership was not elected democratically, they have been in the acting capacity for so long. They have been hesitant on conducting general elections so that new leadership can be picked from our community openly through the public vote. CONCLUSION Due to the above stated anomalies and kind of manipulation that has been brought in our Dallas community; in which most of our decent brothers and sisters who have been in this community long enough and have built themselves good reputation and acquired reputable education but are now being talked about with no respect by our own community; we have made the following recommendations: That a new association is on a drawing board to be formed and therefore those interested in transparency and good governance are called upon to attend the general caucus meeting that will look into formation of an election council and interim committee before the general elections are held where all Zambians who love the community will be free to declare their interest in all positions. That the current association will continue operating as a business entity as registered but it ceases to be an association for Zambians in Dallas and that Zambians are no longer clients of such a business. This association shall encompass all Zambians as long as you live in our community with or without any membership; no one is a Zambian by payment of club fees but by birth or naturalization. The date and place of the general caucus will be announced soon where the general public shall be invited to come and usher in the committee that will spearhead all the formalities up to the time new leaders will be elected. GENERAL APPEAL TO THE CLERGY AND PASTORS We humbly request our Zambian Pastors, spiritual leaders, clergy personnel, rabbis or any person of Zambia origin who lives in Dallas Metroplex but whose career is based on giving spiritual insight to the general public to stay off from making unnecessary affiliations or political statements about people they know little about before the community starts seeing them as opposite from their cause. Let spiritual leaders remain neutral and fair in all their deals unless situations where they have heard from both sides on a round table in order for them to make a sound guidance. Our clergy are our spiritual eyes, in the event that the community lacks focus, we will look up to them for advise, direction, prayers, guidance etc Yours in service, Concerned community members
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 04:10:04 +0000
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