BRITISH High Commissioner to Zambia Nicholas Woolley says it is unacceptable to have violence just for elections.
Meanwhile, Copperbelt permanent secretary Bright Nundwe says, “We disrupted the rally that was to be held by our colleagues [UPND] which could have been a very huge, huge rally. But we said for now, we need to follow the rules to protect the people”.
High Commissioner Woolley says freedom of assembly is a prerequisite for a free, fair and transparent elections.
He said this in Ndola when he called on Nundwe at his office.
He said peace in any country was a natural good.
“We have a duty to speak out on violence during the elections. It is unacceptable to have violence just for elections. All parties should have the opportunity to display their posters, billboards, to put their messages across to the people,” High Commissioner Woolley said.
He said the recent order to ban public gatherings should be sanctioned on all but that freedom of assembly should prevail.
“Recent ruling on banning campaign gatherings… freedom of assembly is paramount in an election, for democracy, even in the UK. We want to see that the restrictions are applied equally to all. That is what the UK wants to see – all parties under the Constitution of Zambia are having equal access,” High Commissioner Woolley said.
He said media freedom was important during an election period.
“Media freedom is important during this election period as it is paramount to have equal coverage for peaceful, fair and transparent elections. As a close partner in Zambia, there is need to ensure that the restrictions are applied equally to all. This is what the UK government wants to see,” stressed High Commissioner Woolley. “All political parties should be given equal coverage in both public and private media because this is paramount for free, fair and transparent elections.”
And Nundwe said there was no single component of segregation on media coverage on the Copperbelt.
“We have worked well with all the media both private and public. We have no single component of segregation on the media coverage on the Copperbelt. The media on the Copperbelt is very objective,” he said.
He said the lives of people were more important than elections.
Nundwe said police had been instructed to be fair with political parties.
But he noted that the UPND rally which was slated for Kitwe last Saturday, May 29, 2021, was cancelled.
“The life of people is more important than the elections. Elections come and go and there is absolutely no need to have violence. I have told the police to be very fair during this time,” said Nundwe. “The police need to reason with political parties. We will try to ensure that there is no need to have huge gatherings. We disrupted the rally that was to be held by our colleagues which could have been a very huge, huge rally. But we said for now, we need to follow the rules to protect the people.”