A governance activist on the Copperbelt province has expressed concern over the decision taken by the ruling United Party for National Development ( UPND) to petition seats won by the Patriotic Front (PF) in the August election.
Centre for governance executive director Patrick Mutanga observes that in an event the courts rule in favour of the ruling party ,the country will shift back to one party system of the first republic.
Mr Mutanga has in an interview stressed that if the ruling party becomes dominant in parliament which will entail that there will not be democracy as powers will be concentrated in the hands of one group.
“Democracy will not be practiced because powers will be concentrated in one camp as they will have the numbers to pass any law without objection. As you are aware ,the ruling party scooped majority seats and they only need 10 seats to attain a third majority in parliament. This is not healthy, for a democratic state,” he emphasized.
Mr. Mutanga further stress that’s democratization requires opposition party to provide checks and balances through debates if the country is to attain social economic development desired.
On this score, President Hichilema has through his party’s spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has advised against petitioning of the 12 August elections results.
Mr Hakainde said his administration would rather focus on ensuring campaign pledges of developing the nation rather than petitioning results.
Meanwhile, UPND Copperbelt Province Information and Publicity Secretary (IPS)Lawrence Mwanza has defended the ruling party’s position as it is petitioners’ democratic right to be heard by the courts when aggrieved.
Mr. Mwanza says petitioners have overwhelming evidence saying the ruling party in the region has decided to support the decision to correct wrong acts committed. He said it is the desire of the party to leave behind a legacy of having governed the country in line with the rule of law.
“The losing petitioners are stakeholders of an election and as a party, we cannot infringe on their constitutional rights. We need to set a record that elections must be free and fair and not married with malpractices. The will of the people is supreme and this is what the party stands for,” he said.
On the Copperbelt province, UPND has petitioned 8 parliamentary seats and two mayoral seats. In Kitwe district, the seats petitioned so far include the Mayoral seat and four parliamentary constituencies namely Wusakili, Kamfinsa, Chimwemwe and Kwacha.
In the Ndola district, the Mayoral and Kabushi constituency seats have been contested. Others petitioned are Luanshya central and Kalulushi parliamentary seats.
I agree BUT there was a lot of malpractices that were done by mostly PF,the massive injection of money, donations of Motor Vehicles, Money to Schools,large amounts of money to defect.
Here were I stay large monies were in circulation.
The PF literally bribed the whole country with bicycles which price could reach 1 billion!
What do we do?
My view is let NGO s the Press take front role checks and balances.IBA reform fast track.
There must be quick law reform to strengthen institutions.
Rev. Kapya Kaoma wrote:
Sadly, we have to live with the UPND definition of Zambian democracy–unless the result favors HH and his UPND, the election is stolen. This Trump doctrine is detrimental and toxic to Zambian democracy–it is one thing to do so in opposition, but another thing when you’re in power.
If someone calls themselves a governance activist and s/he is concerned about petitions then that person is a joker may as well support electro malpractices….how would you feel to invest your funds in campaigning only to lose because some candidate was using govt resources and money to bribe voters.
PF spent so much money in bribes that the parliamentary results cannot be deemed free and fair. Every contestable seat must be contested. Crime does not pay. There should be no apologies for demanding justice.
Some of these petitions are an indication of what shameless individuals and leadership we have in the UPND. Take the example of Petauke Central: an Independent got 32,534, PF 10,098 and UPND 1,395, how can a person endowed with just a bit of common sense petition such a result? I encourage the PF to also petition all the 49 seats in Southern, Western and North Western province so that we see the circus that Bally and his Party have created
So for this governance activist, it will be good for him to have a CONMAN in parliament WHO will be OBJECTING and Rejecting passing a law tabled by UPND, just for the sake of doing check and balances? There is no logic in the argument raised by this governance activist. LET democracy under the Zambian constitution play out. Do NOT strangle democracy for the sake of satisfying checks and balances, as that will defeat people`s wish. What is important is to have a correct person elected, regardless of whether PF or UPND. People` voice is paramount.
The PF and lungu could not win any free and fair election , period.
Let them recontest , and you will see how they will lose without using GRZ machinery and stolen money………
PF are the guilty ones who will cause a one party state, international observers deemed the election heavily skewed in their favour. Yes PF needs to die and any politican that joined in the rape of our country barred from politics. A new party hopefully made up of young vibrant leaders not tainted by corruption or tribalism will rise from the ashes to form a credible opposition.
@vision2020 and @Saulosi, don’t miss Zambia vs Tusia match guys.
Not necessarily there can lead to a birth of a new opposition party just not the PF and we already know who is leading in the rise to prominence
One party rule is the best.. Candidates compete and are chosen on merit.
Multiple party is causing enmity among people from different party
True something fishy with this election. It was free and fair. In some constituency the difference were not real
@ayatolla. That’s the mentality that is wrong! So now you invest money to get payback? this is not a business. These are lives of people that we are talking about. Not an investment. Politics have never been an investment. Its always been about something bigger than yourself, sacrifice. you are all a bunch of Vultures and jokers. How irritating