Maravi

Costly by-elections

Costly by-elections
By Editor
Tuesday May 22, 2007 [04:00]

The number of parliamentary elections being nullified is increasingly becoming embarrassing. And it’s not only embarrassing but it is also costly. A parliamentary by-election, on average, costs the taxpayer not less than K2 billion. A lot could be done with this money. Imagine how many schools or clinics could be built with this money! Imagine how many lives could be saved if this money was spent on medicines needed by our people!

What has gone wrong with our conduct of elections? Instead of improving, things seem to be going down in our conduct of elections.

The number of by-elections being challenged successfully should be a source of worry to all our politicians, especially those in the ruling party and government. It also should raise a lot of concerns in our Electoral Commission. Of course we can pride ourselves in the fact that these nullifications of election results are an indication that we have an effective judiciary that is functioning. But this is an unnecessary burden on the judiciary.

And these election petitions cost a lot of money, they are unnecessary expense on the taxpayer. Although they are privately prosecuted and the parties involved bear the costs, the costs of the court, the time of the judge is paid for by the taxpayer. These are avoidable litigations. What is required is for each of the players to play by the rules. The Electoral Commission needs to do its work. This is a serious indictment on the manner in which it is conducting elections in this country.

It may also be necessary to understand why all these elections being nullified are those won by the ruling party. What does this mean for the ruling party? Is this because the police and other law enforcement agencies allow them more liberty to do whatever they want, to engage in electoral malpractices? It seems ruling party candidates and their supporters are untouchable by law enforcement agencies and the Electoral Commission. The only remedy that seems to be available to the opposition candidates is the courts of law.

We would like the police and other law enforcement agencies to treat all the candidates in the same way and help avoid these costly by-elections.

The Electoral Commission should be embarrassed by what was discovered in Nalolo Constituency where ballot boxes were discovered at some school, uncollected, many weeks after the elections. The taxpayer is spending a lot of money on these elections and expects a good job to be done by all those employed or engaged in the conduct of elections. This is really shortchanging the taxpayer.

The individuals involved in the elections also need to take stock of their conduct. Those who conduct themselves in a manner that results in by-elections should be excluded from the electoral process for a very long time, if not permanently. The nation should not be made to pay so much money on by-elections and litigations as a result of one stupid politician and his or her supporters. The political parties also need to do some homework in this area. A political party that causes so many by-elections surely deserves no respect because it is involved in malpractices or corrupt electoral activities that are synonymous with rigging.

Voters can also do something about this very negative and costly phenomenon. Sometimes it is the voters who pressure desperate politicians to engage in malpractices, in bribery and all sorts of corrupt practices. It is they who induce politicians to pay for their votes or support. This must stop. A lot of voter education is needed or we will continue to waste much time and money on litigation and by-elections. We may also need to re-examine our electoral laws and ensure that they are adequate and can allows us conduct elections in an orderly manner.

Elections are very important and are a central institution of our system of government. This is because the authority of our representatives both in Parliament and in government derive their authority from the consent of the people. The principle mechanism for translating that consent into authority is the holding of free and fair elections. And these elections must be conducted in a manner that makes the voters feel confident that the results are accurate and that the authority of their representatives does, indeed, rest upon their consent.

We have to move away from this legacy of electoral malpractices that Frederick Chiluba and MMD planted in this country. We have to conduct elections that are rooted in the understanding that we govern ourselves better when our representatives are elected in elections that are conducted in a decent manner. And politicians do well in a strong and decent community of people with principles and standards and common aims and values. We seem to have lost all these. We have to quickly regain them or we are going nowhere as a nation.

Every candidate should aim and work to win the elections but not because of malpractices or rigging; winning should be as a result of the understanding, support and trust people place on them. There should be no choice between being principled and unelectable. We have tortured ourselves with this foolishness for over 15 years now. We should win elections because of what we believe and not because of manipulating things, cheating, bribery and rigging.

We cannot continue to waste so much money on electoral litigation and by-elections. This money is needed for poverty eradication. The service of Zambia means the service of the millions who suffer and not wasting money on self-created problems. It means the ending of poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of opportunity; it means wiping away every tear from every eye.

That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, our work will need to be done in an efficient and effective manner that helps us to provide more and more resources for the benefit of our people. This is no time for petty criminal political schemes; it’s no time for ill-will, cheating and bribery. We have a duty to build a better Zambia where all our children may dwell. We cannot encourage narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or action.

The future beckons us. Wither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and the workers of our country; to fight and end poverty, ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman in our country. We have hard work ahead. And this work cannot be led by politicians who cheat in elections, bribe the electorate and engage in all sorts of malpractices to win elections. We should not encourage or tolerate narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, GOVERNANCE

posted by MrK @ 10:46 PM