PETITIONER’S OWN WITNESS UNDERMINES CASE
….ECZ presiding officer gives conflicting accounts as ballot accountability questions emerge in Ndola Central petition….
By Zambia Political Watch | 5 October 2026
The Ndola Central election petition took another dramatic turn today when Carol Namushi, an Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) presiding officer called as a witness by petitioner Frank Tayali, came under intense cross-examination by counsel for First Respondent Emmanuel Mulenga.
Namushi’s testimony raised a series of questions over what allegedly happened at Ntubashushi polling at Chibolele Combined School, as well as the handling and accountability of ballot papers.
The witness, who told the court she had been a teacher for 19 years, gave conflicting accounts of the sequence of events surrounding the alleged disturbance at the polling station.
At one point, Namushi said people rushed into the polling station after gunshots were fired.
However, in another account, she said people rushed into the polling station first, and that it subsequently took the firing of a gunshot by soldiers for them to disperse.
The contradictory accounts became a significant feature of her testimony.
Namushi also confirmed that she did not make a report to either the ECZ or the Zambia Police concerning the alleged incident. And confirmed that no arrests were made during the alleged incident.
She further told the court that she had been appointed as a presiding officer on 12 August 2026 and underwent training shortly before the August 13 election.
The witness attributed some of the difficulties she experienced to what she described as inadequate training.
But the most striking questions emerged around ballot-paper accountability.
Namushi told the court that her polling stream was supplied with 950 ballot papers, despite the polling stream having 928 registered voters.
However, when pressed on the actual figures arising from the voting process, she was unable to clearly provide the court with the number of people who voted, the number of rejected ballots or the number of unused ballot papers remaining.
The issue was particularly significant because ballot reconciliation requires polling officials to account for the papers issued and their eventual status.
Her testimony eventually prompted direct intervention from the court, who cautioned her to answer the questions put to her and address the court appropriately.
The judge’s intervention came as Namushi struggled to provide coherent answers during questioning, despite her experience as a teacher.
Namushi’s evidence is now part of a wider contest over the circumstances surrounding the August 13 election in Ndola Central.
Tayali is challenging the election of Mulenga, who was declared winner.
In court, however, one thing was unmistakable, the petitioner’s own witness left several important questions hanging in the air.