NRC issuance problems in Southern, Central, Copperbelt, Lusaka, North-Western and Western provinces have hallmarks of a conspiracy between ECZ and the PF to rig the 2021 elections, says Senior Chief Mukuni.
Mukuni of Zimba, Kazungula and Livingstone districts said the extension of the voter registration exercise would not be equitable in the deliberately disadvantaged provinces as long as the same foul players are in the field.
“The problems encountered in obtaining National Registration Cards and voter registrations in Southern, Central, Copperbelt, Lusaka, Western and North Western provinces have hallmarks of a conspiracy between ECZ and the PF to rig the 2021 elections,” Mukuni said.
He urged the Electoral Commission of Zambia to do the right thing by immediately reverting to the old Voters’ Register.
“I listened to the press conference by ECZ’s Patrick Nshindano. That to me was a clear admission of gross incompetence and failure on his part and the part of the entire Commission. It didn’t have to take long queues and administrative glitches for ECZ to realise that to register nine million voters in 30 days was an impossible feat, because stakeholders and ordinary citizens who appeared to have been more judicious than the Commission foresaw this folly and told them to maintain the old register,” he said. “The reasons given by Nshindano to get rid of the old register because there are over one million dead people is unconvincing and perplexing. If indeed ECZ has that data, then it means the dead people are known, so wouldn’t it have been more economical and helpful to the whole process if they simply obliterated them from the register? It does not make sense to inconvenience nine million people to address one million known dead people who would have simply been removed from the register.”
Mukuni urged the ECZ to respect the law by continuously registering voters because young people attain voting age every day.
“If these young people are not catered for, after the ECZ illegally induced registration period expires, they would have been illegally excluded from the process that lawfully allows them to register to vote, and to ultimately vote on election day. This is illegal and unacceptable. I, therefore, call upon the Electoral Commission of Zambia to do the right thing by immediately reverting to the old register, that is what is lawful, prudent and just,” he said. “The proposed extension comes too little too late and offers no tangible benefits to the overall problems of the messy electoral process. Further, let the ECZ investigate widespread reports of foreigners and young children that are being dubiously given NRCs and voters’ cards, especially in border areas of the Northern and Eastern regions of our country.”
Mukuni warned that ECZ judge Esau Chulu and Nshindano would be held responsible for the turmoil that their unilateral actions might cause to the nation, in an event the election outcome is disputed.
“Let the ECZ adopt a neutral, unbiased and independent attitude by embracing diverse perspectives of stakeholders and citizens, in order to attain a workable understanding that will be acceptable to all,” said Mukuni.