Extension of inquiry on political violence inevitable

Thu, 25 May 2017 12:25:03 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO

IT was inevitable for President Edgar Lungu to extend the mandate of the commission of inquiry on political violence because we are expecting an in-depth and well-researched report that will provide workable solutions that will avert any re-occurrence, 16 opposition political parties have observed.

President Lungu has extended the mandate of the commission of inquiry on voting patterns and political violence to November 30, 2017 according to provisions of section 3 of the Inquiries Act.

Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, chairperson for the National Opposition Alliance (NOA) which is made up 16 political parties Edwin Sakala said Zambians were waiting for a thorough investigation into the cause of violence that almost pushed the country to the edge and to find possible solutions to avert such a development in future. Mr. Sakala said while the extension would mean that the country was to spend more money, the exercise was worth spending on because the peace of the country was paramount to anything else and needed to be guarded jealously.

“This extension was inevitable. What happened before, during and after the elections in 2016 had never happened in the history of this country, hence the need for the commission to do a thorough job so that we can know exactly where we went wrong and what remedial measures we need to put in place in the next poll so that we are not caught unaware.

“Needless to say, there was no proper mechanism to curb violence in last year’s election and the consequences were grave. Zambia would not have been where it is now if those ugly scenes were allowed to continue and this is why the commission needs more time to do its investigations and give us workable preventive solutions,” Mr. Sakala said. He said the alliance supported such a decision because it was made in the best interest of the country and that there was no need to politicise it.

Last year, President Lungu appointed a commission of inquiry to examine the causes of the political violence before and after the August 11, 2016 general elections and was supposed to wrap up its investigations and present a report within 120 days.

The scope of its work includes inquiry into the voting patterns between 2006 and 2016 and the root causes of these patterns as well as examining to what extent the pre-election political violence could have influenced the voting patterns in the August 11, 2016 general elections.

The inquiry will also examine the role of political parties, traditional rulers, and the media in shaping voting patterns and instigation of violence among
others.