Dear Editor,
I AM shocked that the Patriotic Front and some stakeholders are complaining and blaming the so many petitions and nullification of some seats belonging to the party to shrinking democracy by UPND.
Far from it, it is actually PF that shrunk our democracy to this edge using their arrogance to issues relating to electoral processes that we have been complaining about.
Indeed, the August 12 general election is the most expensive in the history of this country considering the more than 400 petitioned seats both at local government and parliamentary level.
Its however refreshing that the judges in the courts nullifying your seats were appointed by yourselves and you told us that they work independently, so where is the problem?
The truth is PF has been telling everyone when we used to complain about them creating by-elections for the sake of numbers that the country is wasting a lot of revenue through the by-elections, saying they are constitutional and that our courts of law are credible and work independently.
When the electoral malpractices were eminent in the just ended campaign period and complaints were actually deafeningly loud, the same PF said the Electoral Commission of Zambia was an autonomous body guided by the electoral code of conduct guidelines.
In short, the big chunk of the blame sits on PF’s veranda and they should be the last ones to complain about it. The big question is; were there cases of violence and vote buying through dishing out of cash or not, the answer is yes.
So, instead of playing it smart, repent and apologise to Zambians so that we heal and look at ways of harnessing our electoral code of conduct through electoral reforms.
You managed to destroy ECZ, Judiciary, Police and many more government institutions to advance your interests. This should surely haunt you guys.
Going forward however is for the party in government – UPND – to make amends and put the country’s democracy to high standards, which was of course promised during the campaigns.
These pending by-elections are not a creation of anyone else apart from PF’s appetite for power that they had to engage in visible electoral malpractices without thinking that there would one day be a day of reckoning.
Democracy we are told is expensive, and this is it. Can we allow those who abused the electoral process to get away with it just because we have to avoid a by-election?
The answer is no, and they should actually be banned for the coming by-elections to deter the occurrence.
WISDOM MUYUNDA,
Chingola.
Author
