REMOVAL OF DECEASED PERSONS FROM THE VOTER REGISTER
The argument put forward by the ECZ is that they want to create a new voter register because there are a lot of deceased (dead) persons on the register.
So what does the law say about this matter?
Section 16 of the Electoral Process Act of 2016:
Amendments to Voters Register 16.
(1) A registration officer shall—
(c) delete the name of a voter who is deceased.
The law is very clear, deceased voters must be deleted from the register.The Law does not allow for the creation of a new register for the reason of knocking off dead people.
The word ‘DELETE’ means to ‘REMOVE’ from an already existing document.You can only delete something from something else that already exists, and what exists is the 2016 Voters Roll, therefore the deceased persons must be deleted from the 2016 voters roll.
Question: Is the ECZ In breach of the Electoral Process Act 2016 by proposing to discard the register for the reason of knocking off deceased people?
Answer : The answer is an emphatic ‘YES’, the law requires the ECZ to ‘DELETE’ the names of deceased persons from the voter roll, it doesn’t require the ECZ to create a new voter roll, in fact there’s nowhere in the law where the ECZ is granted powers to discard the voters roll and create a new one, the law requires them to maintain the existing register on a continuous basis and to register new voters and delete deceased voters. The voters roll has an indefinite life and no one has authority under the law to discard the voters register.
Death records of the deceased are readily available from local councils and traditional authorities with the names and NRC’S of the deceased.
On this basis, the Chairperson of the ECZ, Chief Electoral Officer and Commissioners must resign and be prosecuted for breaching the law.
CONCLUSION
Any election conducted by the ECZ through a new voter register is illegal, ultra vires, null and void and is non-binding on the people of Zambia.
COPYRIGHT NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS PARTY (NDC) MEDIA 02.10.2020