THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says police should get interested in how The Post newspaper got the voters’ cards and national registration cards (NRC) it displayed in its Monday edition purported to belong to foreigners.
ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna has also questioned the authenticity of the cards that the tabloid displayed on its front page.
“The burden of proof lies on those accusing us. How they do that I leave it to them. I think the police must get interested in this matter. Why collect other people’s voters’ cards and NRCs?” Mr Akufuna asked.
He said ECZ is doing its very best to give Zambians a credible election but its efforts are being rubbished by some stakeholders.
Wynter, (HH) Scott Mmembe and Cronies Inc dont mean well for Zambia.
If ECZ was blameless on this accusation by the POst, they would have moved in quickly with all the forces (Police, DEC, ACC) etc to investigate and conclude this issue. It is a very known reason why they are washing their hands and saying it is up to the Post.
The Post should be commended by ECZ and the government if anything for being vigilant. Now they are questioning how confirmed stolen property was obtained. What kind of st8pid8ty is that?
PATRIOTISM IS VERY IMPORTANT! THESE PATRIOTIC ZAMBIANS WHO DETECTED INTRUSION AND INTERFERENCE BY FOREIGNERS IN NATIONAL ISSUES SHOULD BE A PAT GIVEN TO THEM BY THE SECURITY WINGS OF GOVERNMENT AS WELL AS ECZ ADMINISTRATION. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE CALL PATRIOTISM. IF AN INDIVIDUAL IS SUSPICIOUS THRU HIS DEALINGS OR UTTERANCES, IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY AS A PATRIOTIC ZAMBIA TO FIND OUT IF SUCH A ONE IS ONE OF US OR AN INTRUDER. ECZ SHOULD NOT CARPET THIS MATTER RATHER NEED TO CORPORATE WITH THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE TO ENSURE ALL SUSPICIOUS REGISTERED VOTERS ARE SCREENED AND EITHER CLEARED OR PROSECUTED.
ECZ should actually thank the post for exposing the fraud. Unless of course they are part of the scheme. The burden of proof is on ECZ & GRZ to convince me, the citizen, that they are running a credible operation.
(By Post)
This insolent attitude can result in serious post-election instability which the Electoral Commission of Zambia has no capacity to control. The attitude of the Electoral Commission of Zambia officials and officers is reckless and dangerous. They are behaving like a child playing with fire who doesn’t know the consequences and ends up burning down the whole village. –
WOW!!! this is wrong for ECZ to swakisha the police on post newspaper. Clearly these PFs are registering people from malawi but as usual in police/ECZ will blame post
How does PF conduct voter registration? Isn’t this the role of ECZ?
Iwe ciCris Akufuna, just admit you have been caught. Police should get interested in how foreigners obtained Zambian NRCs and voters’ cards, not how The Post obtained them.
One would have thought ECZ would go to the Post and get the evidence to clean their mess but lol and behold, they want to send BUNJU. ECZ is being judged in the eyes of the people. Whatever they do, the backs stops at them
The police should get interested in both. Iwe. By the way, Malawi does not have NRCs
ECZ MUST TELL THE TRUTH. THERE IS QUESTIONING HERE, EVIDENCE IS THERE. NO WONDER LUNGU WAS SO CONFINDENT OF WINNING. CAN ECZ BE AUDITED?? Please opposition request an independent election audit to ensure existence and completeness of the the voter’s role
Boss no one joins a race is not confident of winning – ask HH, Nawakwi, Muliokela etc. So why should Lungu be expected to say he will be losing? But this does not mean I am saying PF cannot rig. I am just arguing on the point of being confident in a contest.
It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting. ~Tom Stoppard, Jumpers
It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. Joseph
The purpose of an election is not to name the winner, it is to convince the losers that they lost. The winner rarely contests an election, the winner has little reason to investigate discrepancies. It is the looser that will always do this. Dan Wallach
@amagenge. I think the best he should have was to just keep quiet given the nature of suspicion raised around the electoral process. Nobody said he should say he is losing.
Can ECZ sue the post so that everything comes out and they are exposed. Don’t question take them and us the Zambian people to court.
Ba f.o.o.l.ish commentator muli cipuba.
Robber asking victim how did got evidence?
Sometimes it is really difficult to see who is telling the truth….. so to get the correct picture let the police impartially investigate this Exodus…movement of Jah people into Zambia. As at now Bo SAKUFUNA is not akufunad
The arrogance of ECZ is unprecedented. Now that they cannot be held liable for flaws in the election process makes us understand the source of the arrogance. They can rig and manipulate the electoral process to suit there appointing powers. ECZ is independent my foot! No its not; its engaged in hook and crook manoeuvres to secure victory for its masters; who in turn has promised them immunity from prosecution plus monetary benefits.
@ABM: You are very right
Why would ECZ be so annoyed with the Post newspapers instead of welcoming the revelation as an opportunity for them to clearly demonstrate to all Zambians that they take any attempts to manipulate the electoral process seriously, by transparently and conclusively investigating this issue.
Mr Akufuna should know that unlike in a court of law this is a case of ‘Court by Public scrutiny and in this instance the burden of proof lies with the ECZ to prove to all that the election will be free and fair.
Well ECZ you have caught don’t blame the post..just do the right thing.Give us a credible election
ECZ has always given us credible elections only that people like you have a very active imagination…
Get to the bottom of this case. How can chiefs be giving away citizenship of Zambia like that? It maybe a source for violet people existing in Zambia today- they may have come from countries with cold hearted individuals who can not embrace the Zambian spirit because of their barbaric ancestry.
I think ECZ there ARE not serious how do they accuse the post on this issue. Chrish with your think are to start accusing the post on this serious issue? Chris do you know what you are doing at ECZ ? you guys you need a bullet in your heads . remember people are struggling to find food because of stupid policy for PF now you are busy yaping yaping nonsense.
Can you sit down and think twice on your statement you talk as if you are grade 4 pupil you foolish people at ECZ.
Soon xenophobes will re-emerge at the rate this is going. We have a lot of Zambians with birthplaces and national origins elsewhere and clearly displayed on their national documents. How are we going to protect the genuine from the frauds if we raise the hype to hysterical levels? I fear for my country…
Instead of appreciating the Postnewspaper reports and investigate the issues in order to clean the register of such foreigners wrongly given voters cards,the ECZ is being defensive for nothing and one would ask in whose interest are they defending this indefensible anomaly. Is it not in the interest of ECZ that such bonafide reports of foreigners registered as voters in Zambia are removed to assure free and fair elections but they are defensive for nothing. This is making us believe that they are upto no good and indeed are working with the PF to rig the elections. Is ECZ not public institution who mandate is to organize free, fair and transparent elections, then why should they be in defensive mode over such serious anomaly that can be a cause of conflict in the near future. One would…
Dear Akufuna,
Please be professional and avoid emotions on this serious issue which you cannot just wish away as ECZ more especially as a spokesperson. So you want us to think that The Post fabricated those voters cards? We have every reason to think that ECZ does not mean well and everything that you do testifies to that. For instance why are you not announcing the company to print ballot papers? How long is does it take to review a shortlist of less than 20 printers?
I think this could be the year for a definitive change for our country, and usually, history shows that just before such a shift, all manner of expositions begin to unfold at quite a high level. Almost as if the more campaign money is poured into the rural populace, the more certain the voters realise that the sudden ‘love-affair’ and care for them is not only short-lived but also demeaning, even a poor man values his honour:) VJ started the clarion call for vigilance, Fred Membe’s resilience and tenacity is almost unmatched, and UPND remain focused and unfettered on the pre-voting period. May Zambians apply collective resolve against any buffoonery or politrix from either ECZ, Home Affairs and PF. Thank you LT and bloggers for reduction in insulting tirades.
police should get interested in how the investigative journalist got the panama papers! how? instead they should get interested if the money being kept in offshore accounts is clean money. That’s how it works.
whistle blowers (the post) must be protected and thanked for risking their lives, time and money to bring this out. So ECZ should come out clean and the police should get to the bottom of this so that culprits are brought to book.
I commend ECZ here, the police must move in to investigate this serious accusation. The Post has the evidence and they must prove its credibility. We know who the Post go to bed with and they will do anything possible to discredit anything honourable. They have sunk so low lately and very few trust them.
Was wondering where the post got the Malawian NRC because there are no NRCs in Malawi.
Fred Mumembe the former accounts clerk, night school lawyer and wananbe scribe with his Fatdesk lawyer wanabe be deep pockets pimp (dpp) Nchito are at 6s and 7s they know “their Michael” failed miserably to govern as they gave birth to Kambwili, Mumbi, Kapata, Mulenga, GBM, Scott, Kaseba, Masebo, Chama, Chagwa and Kabimba…Wynter is on record that during the plot to defeat PF in 2011 he personally and at great risk ‘smuggled’ foreigners to register as voters! So he kept a record of those people he smuggled then using his side kick ‘sick’ Masebo she vomited those statements in parliament and wynter forwarded a record to the PAST…so summon wynter, arrest those foreign voters and lets have sanity..Uku Lusa kwena mulelusa again…
The Post has been investigating this case for six months now. They have been to three neighbouring countries and have recordings of people they have interviewed. They even know some of the officials involved from a named political party. Their’s is to report and have challenged security wings to investigate. They have recordings of the interviews.
From the time their reporter was beaten they have quietly been investigating the case. In fact they are done. While some people were busy receiving honorary degrees The Post was busy digging deeper.
dennis – Stop dreaming. It doe not matter who wins. Why are you so obsessed with wining. Just do the right thing and win since you like winning.
Comment: ECZ can’t deal with something that’s criminal. On this one ECZ is right, police should investigate the authenticity of those nrcs not the other way around.
ECZ don’t be stupid we Zambians are not fools ok. Do your work that you get paid for by citizens of zambia and give us credible results. We are watching and no dubious efforts will affect the outcome of these elections. Resign if you can’t do a credible job anyway we won’t care but we do care about the well being of our country and that’s why we will be vigilant to ensure a good job is done with the election.
why is Akufuna annoyed..kekekeke..caught napping ndate..dio the right thing and Zambia will be a free and happy nation..
Please tell Mr Akufuna that the Post only took pictures of the NRCs, they did not collect other people’s voters’ cards and NRCs?
Akufuna is not wrong and the post is not right. Why did not the post report the case to the police if they had the evidence? Instead they took photos? Report and take photo of police confiscating cards and reprimanding those who produced cards.
The story lacks merit. May be Zambians are voting in the Malawi elections.
give us the nrc and voters card numbers so we can verify on our own,ba pust why you always trying to create tension?iwe chi fred mumembe go back to angola were you belong.