THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says there is nothing sinister about the by-elections not being held for the Kabulonga ward Local Government seat, which was held by State House Deputy Minister Mulenga Sata (below) before his appointment by President Lungu.
ECZ spokesperson Cris Akufuna said in an interview yesterday that the commission has not kept quiet on the Kabulonga ward seat as reported in some sections of the media.
“The commission can only call for a by-election after being informed of the vacancy by the Speaker of National Assembly in the case of a parliamentary seat and town clerk in ward elections,” he said.
Mr Akufuna said the Kabulonga ward seat is not vacant as far as ECZ is concerned and will only proceed to conduct elections after receiving notification of its vacancy by the town clerk.
“We know from the media that the seat is vacant but we cannot call for a by-election basing on media reports. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the stakeholders and the electoral officer who is the town clerk to inform ECZ,” he said.
Mr Akufuna said ECZ always follows procedure in conducting elections and that in this case, the Kabulonga ward by-election can only be called after notification of its vacancy is issued by the town clerk
He was reacting to concerns by the UPND that the ECZ has remained silent over the local government seat held by Mr Sata before he was nominated to Parliament.
So the Town Clerk is sleeping on duty since February 2015? Is he still scared of the Sata ghost hovering over Lusaka?
But just in real terms it is uncalled for a Town Clerk to be quiet and yet Mulenga was drawing a salary as a councillor. Can he be investigated for day light robbery.
This is case of a stray dog with Rabies! Just shoot it.
That will save Taxpayers TWO salaries that they are getting no benefit from.
Councilors do not draw a monthly salary. They are only entitled to sitting allowances. Emerine Kabanshi as a Minister of Local Government then did issue a statutory instrument instructing all councils to be paying salaries, but this has since been ignored by all councils across the country
@ gift and Analist, please put your facts right. In Zambia councilors do not draw a salary.
This is what’s wrong with our constitution. Mufumbwe had no MP for 3 months when Masumba was in Jail & ECZ was waiting for the speaker to declare the seat vacant. Similarly Chisamba had no MP even for a longer time when Muteteka was in jail.
ECZ should have power to intervene when all other criteria are met to have a seat declared vacant.
That’s why we need a constitutional court to be sorting out such mess.
Waiting for an interested Speaker or TC is not working for us.
Zambia is a sick nation in which fear and personality worship is a major disease.How can a helpless Town Clerk think of declaring a seat empty when the pay master pays him.We have not provided safety valves to protect our civil servants in the Constitution.Let us revisit our constitution.As for ECZ major steps needs to be made in order to enhance democracy.They should right away recruit private intelligence officers to monitor as to where a seat has fallen vacant.