By Scoop Reporter
ZAMBIA must put in place legislation, policy, and institutional frameworks at all levels if the country is to enhance the integrity of political processes, Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) has said.
TI-Z Executive Director Maurice Nyambe says given the challenges the country has witnessed in the electoral processes it is imperative that the overall legal framework governing elections is unambiguous, understandable and transparent.
Mr. Nyambe says TI-Z is concerned that a weak and poorly enforced campaign finance framework can cast a long shadow on the outcome of democratic processes, and essentially makes elections a competition on financial muscle rather than a contest of ideas for how to enhance the country’s development prospects.
He observes that the Constitution of Zambia as amended in 2016 does make provision for regulation of political party and campaign financing, with Article 60(4) outlining the broad parameters for doing this.
“However, the subsidiary legislation required to give effect to this constitutional provision has never been enacted. TI-Z therefore calls on the UPND administration to actualize this constitutional provision by enacting legislation on political party and campaign financing.
“We are convinced that this will not only help to create a level playing field in our electoral process, but also contribute to the erosion of electoral corruption, and ultimately reduce the risk of policy and state capture with regard to any party that forms government,” Mr. Nyambe said.
A lot really need to be fixed