PROPOSED ELECTORAL PROCESS (Amendment) BILL NO. 30 OF 2021 ON ACCESS TO PRISONS OR CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES: NO PLACE FOR THE MEDIA!
It is clear that the forthcoming General Election will be characterised by media or information black outs and selective access to polling stations and campaign modalities.
The new proposed laws such as Electoral Process Amendment Bill No 30 and Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Bill No. 2 of 2021, among others are basically aimed at gagging the role of the media in election such as informing and educating the public.
In addition, these proposed laws also aim at suppressing freedom of and access to electoral information during elections which is not only against the Constitution but Banjul Africa Commission’s Guidelines on Access to information and Elections in Africa.
Amendment 4 of the proposed Electoral Process Bill 30 proposes access to prison or correctional facilities to the electoral commission of Zambia, accredited monitors, observers and polling agents, candidates and members of the public for specific tasks or reasons.
The Bill 30 does not make mention of access by the media and any party official in the absence of the candidate which implies that this category will not be allowed near the prisons during elections.
This conditioned and selective access to prisons for purposes of election is what must be of concern to stakeholders such as the political parties, media and CSOs.
As alluded above, the proposed Bill 30 does not even mention any access to these facilities by the media and does not make room for voter and civic education by CSOs or and other organisations, may only ECZ in its routine of conducting electoral processes.
The new section 24B in the proposed Bill 30 states: “An officer in Charge of a prison shall grant access to a prison to the following;
a) the commission for the purposes of conducting electoral processes;
b) a candidate in an election for the purposes of distributing campaign materials in a prescribed manner;
c) an accredited polling agent, observer or monitor for the puporse of observing or monitoring an election; and
d) member of the public for the purpose of voting.
When one analyses this provision, one comes to the conclusion that the drafters of this proposed law are limited in understanding the electoral process.
They have limit the electoral process in prisons to an event which is the day of election and access to the prisons or correctional facilities only on the election day with specified persons and institutions to enjoy that access.
The provision also creates a two-tier voters type those who will participate at the newly created prison polling stations who are free and well-informed (enlightened) of the candidates-the community and prison officers and the caged and with limited access to electoral related information except posters of candidates given to them by the prison officers without explanation-the
Let us be alert and advocate for inclusive laws and laws that promote effective media participation in the electoral process for the sake of promoting transparency and accountability in the electoral process.
The rate at which government and electoral institutions want to obliterate the media from covering electoral related issues in the electoral process and churn out electoral information to the public for public consumption is very worrying.
I submit
Chipenzi McDonald