Electoral Commission of Zambia is marred by inadequacies – HH

Fellow politicians in both the ruling party and the opposition. I would like us to work together to ensure that we bring credence to the electoral system in this country. We have upcoming by-elections on 11th September 2014, I would like to ask everyone involved to please conduct ourselves in a manner befitting a civilised group of people. Our electoral system is marred by inadequacies and clearly the Electoral Commission of Zambia, in its current configuration, cannot adequately handle the inadequacies without we the participants in elections being disciplined.

The acquittal of Isaac Zulu, our member who was accused of having murdered Menyani Zulu in Rufunsa in 2012 is a lesson to us all. The family of the deceased has not recovered from their loss, yet we have had over 20 by-elections since then and the perpetrators have gone on like nothing happened.

I am for health competition. Health competition demands that you play by the rules set out for that competition. If we can achieve healthy competition on the electoral field, I can guarantee you, we shall build a better country. A country that believes in winning fairly, a country and people that believes in itself. What we do as politicians reflects on the nation as a whole. If we portray that winning is more important than playing by the rules, we are doomed to fail in other spheres of life where rules are strictly enforced.

Let me reiterate my call to end violence in politics and set this country on the right competitive path. Healthy competition will spur this country to growth and instill confidence in hardworking citizens who believe in competition and adhering to the rules and regulations.

I call on all of us to reflect on ourselves as a country in a competitive global world. What are our chances of progress if we don’t embrace healthy competition?

Hakainde Hichilema