Leader of the opposition and Monze Central Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu has questioned the moral and legal reasoning behind the issuance of national registration cards and voters cards to prisoners on death row at the time when most eligible Zambians have been disenfranchised.
And UPND parliamentary whip Situmbeko Musokotwane has appealed to traditional leaders, especially Western province to search their conscience and state whether they are satisfied with the ended issuance of NRCs as well as the voter registration exercise.
Addressing the media this morning, Mr Mwiimbu said the UPND is extremely shocked and disappointed at the decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as the ECZ to start registering prisoners some of whom are on the death roll.
He said a number of eligible Zambians especially in Western, Southern, North-Western and parts of Central provinces were left out of the NRC exercise and are likely to be left out in the voter’s card acquisition with the government opting to instead give prisoners the documents meant for Zambians with full liberties and freedoms under the laws of Zambia.
Jack mwimbu you ugly man, can you please state the last time any zambian on death roll was killed ? Capital punishment is not used in Zambia although it remains in law. These upnd clowns are very dull.
Your president might be arrested soon for his involvement in privatisation. In my view if found guilty he should be sentenced to death as his greed cost others lives and generations to come will be affected by his actions. So are you going to say do not allow hh to vote when he gets arrested soon? Think first before you open that chi ugly mouth of yours. You rotten hyena
Why is it so
This is confusing can someone educate me. Was the issue of inmates being allowed to vote not debated in parliament? or is it the ECZ that determines who votes and who does not vote. Or is it a political party in Govt. that decides who votes and who doesn’t ?
Lungu
To belong to UPND one is supposed to stop using their brains but use the Tribal group mentality or whatever HH tells them. Do we leave in the same country were NRC issuance at the so called Bomas is continuous? ECZ has equally extended voter registration for a period to be communicated on Tuesday so which voters have been disenfranchised. Mr Mwiimbu is simply preparing his supporter’s reaction after they lose next year. What UPND should be doing right now is voter sensitization in their so called strong holds and writing their manifesto since they do not have one.
I personally dont think that prisoners should be in a position to potentially decide direction of a country , for example in a tight race… ….prisoners who are offenders should not be given the opportunity to be king makers at the expense of law abiding citizens…
For the same reasons I share with you@ akapS. In the first place it was a sick idea to even think of extending this right to prisoners who by their incarceration deprived themselves certain rights and certainly to be king makers being one of them! I can not help myself to think otherwise than that the motives behind it were not in good faith for Zambian democracy.
In whose interest is it to register someone on death row.But I think this can only happen in some country in Africa with very learned lawyers.
Those on death row are they dead already or they are alive and also prisoners
KCI, you have tuzhi in your head. Have you been to rural areas? How do you expect people to walk several miles to teach the so-called Boma to get ids?
@lipkwa, I have spent over two months in every district in Zambia coz of the nature of my job. In fact Lusaka and Copperbelt are the only places with NRC registration centers where you need to use a vehicle to get there. The rest are within walking distance. People should not wait for elections to get NRCs. On voter registration if it was not for HH to take everyone to court after losing in 2016, the old register would have just been update instead. HH’s political advisers and lawyers always laugh on the way to the bank surprised that he has paid them again.
Our lawyers have plenty skeletons in theirs bags
A prisoner could be in for having smoked weed. But you’ve probably tried it too… at least once in your life time. You just didn’t get caught.
You can vote. So should they. Every citizen should have the right to vote.
Is this man really a lawyer? The decision to allow prisoners to allow prisoners to vote was started by an organisation called PRISCA. The ruling by the courts of law simply said the prisoners should be allowed to vote. The ruling did not that type of prisoner. How does one blame ECZ? Not even Government must be blamed. Attack your fellows with legal minds – the judges who gave the right to vote to the prisoners. It will be contempt of court for ECZ not to follow a court order.
UPND are really danderheads who cannot condemn HH of the UPND because they are into group think mentality hence cannot analyse anything as long as their Supreme leader HH of the UPND is against something…. The court ruled that prisoners have a right to vote but sadist HH is not happy and wants to blame the government…how evil is this UPND and it’s Supreme leader who is worshipped by its danderheads and sycophants…
Are they not prisoners. U thought the court ruled that prisoners have a right to vote whether saving a 2 day sentence or on death row. Why bring this unnecessary argumens
Gift Banda true the thing is they want to make a problem where things are pretty much straight forward
I agree with you why should we take our there right to vote
What does our constitution say on such matters? Or is the current government simply taking advantage of this because we dont have a streamlined Bill of Rights ever since the collapse of the then Bill of rights contents which failed to go through during the 2016 General elections? These are lessons because if we had a comprehensive constitution all along with its bill of rights without these so called lacunas which are self made to suit certain people, there would have been no such backlashes.
Nick Ndawa death sentence is there , but how many have been executed so far ? People in prison want freedom too , hence they will do anything to please the powers in order for them to have freedom . The so called law makers do not see beyond their noses before passing some laws.
Victor Musakanya True, they always have a hidden agenda when formulating these laws,that’s why they are ineffective somehow.
BILL 10 ….ARE THEY NOT PRISONERS ?
That’s why I believe upnd does not mean well for zambia. This esteemed lawyer knows very well how ecz came to allow voters to register. It was through court action by some NGO. But he deliberately misleeds his hero worshiping supporters just to cause confusion. Vonse che ni same same.
Mwiimbu, the very dull lawyer.
They are prisoners but also human beings with the freedom to exercise their democratic right
Dull chap…just looking for something to talk about!
I see no need of stopping prisoners from voting. Yes, they committed some form of crime in a way or the other but who has said that we who are not in prison have not committed a crime? The fact that you are not in prison doesn’t make you innocent.
Gayzar Zulu, you ugly queer, you should be worried about your own incarceration. After the PF has lost next year’s election you will find yourself in jail, next to that thieving Edgar China Lungu. So be quiet.
As long as they are still breathing they should be allowed to vote ba upnd nabeve stop discriminating
Kikikikikiki…. Ba Kaizer, forget about privatization. Just prepare yo ukwa bags and leave office next year!
These same prisoners have families, and it’s important to know the price that’s been paid for their children’s happy destiny.
Everyone has a right to exercise there vote upnd stop being inhuman
But people ?? in diaspora have not been given a green light to Vote why
@Choolwe Haantuba
Why are we discussing the issue of inmate voting now?
WAS IT not debated in parliament?
As long as they are human they have every right to vote
I think mwimbu should go back to his school of law are you telling Zambians that those on death row are no longer counted as human beings.
Remember that even hh can faint and die 2 hours after voting, so should we also say he shouldn’t vote because he can die or will die one day?