By Bennie Mundando
OPPOSITION United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) counterpart Chishimba Kambwili want, and are still attempting to frustrate the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ’s) progressive process of reviewing the voters register, Kennedy Kamba has said.
Mr. Kamba, who is Lusaka Province Patriotic Front (PF) secretary, says the PF appreciates the fact that the voters roll must be reviewed to ensure that there are no irregularities and that the deceased are removed from the voters roll.
He says parties must all agree, without reasonable doubt, that they want a free, fair, and credible election and that any reasonable leader of a political party who agrees with this democratic value must also agree to the fact that a clean, updated, and unadulterated voters register is key to having credible, free, and fair elections.
He says it is extremely saddening that the register has 1.4 million deceased voters but that the opposition is seemingly insisting that the register should be left as it is, with avoidable irregularities and wondered the logic in the the thinking of the UPND and the NDC.
“It is clear that Kambwili and his friend Hakainde Hichilema only want to frustrate this progressive exercise meant to add credibility to the elections. They want to frustrate the process because they know the PF is too big and too popular for them. They have seen another election defeat coming and they are just hating on everyone.
“Why should Hakainde Hichilema insist on having the deceased people on the voters roll? It’s because they know that’s where there numbers come from. All progressive political parties have endorsed this exercise because there is nothing sinister about reviewing and updating the register,” Mr. Kamba said.
He said the ECZ is doing a commendable job of ensuring that the country has a clean process and that they must be supported as all political players are equal stakeholders in the ECZ.
“It was shocking that Hakainde Hichilema wanted to further politicize the matter by claiming that the ECZ was going by the clauses of Bill 10. This claim is ridiculous to say the least. Bill 10 is for Zambians and it’s still in Parliament.
“The Electoral Commission of Zambia must be protected from careless talk especially from frustrated opposition leaders who have already conceded defeat in their hearts and the only thing they know now is to try and frustrate everyone,” he said.
