RAPHAEL NAKACINDA CAN STILL BE PICKED FOR BREACHING THE ELECTORAL ACT: BETTER HE AVAILS HIMSELF BEFORE ECZ
THE report that Raphael Nakacinda is arrogantly snubbing the summon from Electoral commission of Zambia (ECZ) over his allegations of pre-marked papers during the just ended by-elections is unfortunate.
However, his snubbing has no consequences if the ECZ is to be serious in curbing lawlessness.
Nakacinda can sitting be picked by the Police for violating the Act and its code of conduct.
Section 123(1) of the electoral process Act No. 35 of 2016 stresses that *A police officer may, without warrant, arrest a
person and keep that person in custody where
*the person is found committing an offence or is reasonably* suspected of having committed an offence under this Act;
Section 107 (Electoral Code of conduct) Regulation 3(d) empowers the ECZ to censure acts done by leaders of political parties, candidates,
supporters, and Government and its organs, which are aimed at jeopardising elections or done in contravention of this Code;
Further, Regulation 11(2) bestows on the ECZ with the legal mandate to summon any erring stakeholder(s) or any person (s) in the Electoral Process.
It states, The Commission may where practicable to do so, summon any person contravening this Code and any voter, candidate or political party alleging a breach to appear before it Commission may where practicable to do so, summon any person contravening this Code and any voter, candidate or political party alleging a breach to appear before it
Clearly, NAKACINDA contravened the electoral code of conduct regulation 15(1) (c) which cautions that A person shall not make false, defamatory or inflammatory allegations concerning any person or political party in connection with an election commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding two
hundred thousand penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both
Therefore, NAKACINDA must substantiate his claims and allegations or dance to the music.
Criminality must be rid out of the electoral process and should not be masked by politics.
I submit
Mcdonald Chipenzi
20 mins ยท Public