NAREP’S STANCE ON ECZ PRESIDENTIAL SUMMIT
Presentation by the Commission through its CEO
Mr. NShindano.
The presentation merely briefed the Presidents about their works towards elections from 2019 all the way to 12th August, 2021.
What they have done;
What they are doing;
And
What they are going to do. Very clear.
No doubt, no query, no ill feeling.
Their presentation according to what they wanted to tell and inform us was perfect and excellent.
If the intention was to inform us:
Then, good and fantastic, the summit should have ended there.
BUT
Since they went ahead and opened the floor for discussions, questions and suggestions.
We as NAREP have a different view and take over what happened during the summit at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
We saw 4 camps in the summit:
The opposition Presidents who opposed process of being told against consensus and dialogue before action.
The opposition Presidents on the side of the ECZ and the ruling government who to some extent charged on their fellow opposition Presidents.
The Republican President and his team who were merely spectators and did not take part in any of this discussions.
The ECZ itself which facilitated the meeting and played the role of informing coupled with defensive position when it came to queries put across by the opposition Presidents which was unfortunate.
We as NAREP also observed that it was important for ECZ to bring in two other crucial stakeholders into the summit namely:
The Inspector General of Police to be able to answer issues pertaining to security and political violence during elections and campaign also to Public Order Act and selective use of law.
The Commissioner General of Correctional Services to answer and give position and assurance to all Presidents and their respective political parties that they will be given a fair chance to campaign within the Prisons.
This was a missed chance at the summit.
This resulted into the following problem:
NO TRUST
There is seemingly No Trust between the opposition Presidents on one side and the ECZ with the Government on the other side.
Further there is no trust between the people of Zambia and the ECZ with its Government.
It is because of this mistrust that everything that is done by ECZ without really consulting the Stakeholders will result into being shot down by the opposition.
History has it that since UNIP to-date every five years when it nears the General Elections, the same problems mentioned here with ECZ do resurface again and again and we all know the problems and the causes.
The ruling government knows that very well .
NOW THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION:
Is ECZ interested to solve these issues once and for all?
Is the sitting Government interested to solve these issues once and for all?
Clearly the answer is NO!
And any normal person will ask but WHY??
Our position as NAREP
Today we are living in a digital era within Zambia you will be at least digitally connected.
Therefore we say if the Ruling Government and its ECZ wanted to solve the main problem of trust they would remove the manual and human handling of all these NRC and Voter Registration and automise.
When you are born, you are captured and a Birth Certificate is issued in the absence of the birth certificate an affidavit sworn before commissioner of oath is issued.
When you die, a Death Certificate and Burial Permit are issued.
So the system automatically can perform the following functions:
At 16 years the system will generate an NRC.
At 18 years it will generate voters card.
When one dies, the system will automatically know that you have died so you are no longer expected to vote and it will automatically remove you out of the Voters Register.
Zambia has enough educated people to carry out this exercise.
ZAMBIA FOR ZAMBIANS
ONLY ZAMBIANS WILL DEVELOP ZAMBIA
It’s an easy system that exists in so many other countries, today and it exhibits TRANSPARENCY.
Commitment to serve the people.
Integrity
And above all:
IT INSTILLS TRUST AMONG ALL STAKEHOLDERS
Such a system will at the same time allow election results to be ready within few hours after closing of the voting at the Polling Stations.
We do understand that there is no willpower by the ruling Government and its ECZ to adopt a system that does not allow human manipulation and intervention so that the intended RESULTS AND ANY OTHER OUTCOME CAN BE JUSTIFIED.
Finally, development is about identifying the previous shortfall, challenges, mistakes that hinder progress and provide better solutions for better future results.