Maravi

Rigging

Rigging
By Editor
Monday October 20, 2008 [04:00]

WE are greatly concerned with the views, feelings and mood that is emerging over the credibility of our electoral process. The statement by Hakainde Hichilema to the effect that Rupiah Banda cannot win next week’s presidential election without rigging should not be treated as mere election propaganda. We say this because this is the growing belief and thinking among many of our people.

And if this outlook continues, it will be very difficult for our people to accept a Rupiah victory. And such a victory may lead to anarchy and violence in the nation. Everything possible should be done to restore public confidence in our electoral process in general and in the Electoral Commission of Zambia in particular.

But as things stand today, it seems the Electoral Commission is increasingly becoming incapable of restoring public confidence in its work. It is every day being undermined by politicians and their supporters. And it is also every day undermining itself by its own inefficiency, ineffectiveness and disorderliness in the conduct of its work.

Its translucent operations are not helping to increase confidence. Like many other government institutions, the Electoral Commission does not seem to have embraced transparency. It wants to operate like it’s a state security agency. This behaviour is a ticking time bomb on peace and tranquillity in our country.

We are very worried that not a single day is passing without a serious concern about possible rigging being expressed. We are continually receiving rigging alerts. This should cause all of us to stop and think: what is it that is causing so much mistrust and apprehension about the possibility of next week’s elections being rigged?

We can dismiss those who are raising these concerns as alarmists or disgruntled elements and do ourselves great disservice, or we can take a level-headed examination of what is going on and spare ourselves the anarchy that would result on October 31 when the results start coming out.

It is not only Hakainde who is saying Rupiah can’t win without rigging. Many ordinary people are saying the same thing; they are asking: where is Rupiah going to get the votes to win this election?

Moreover, ignoring these people’s fears will not do because after the elections, we will still have to face these same people, probably now in large numbers on the street misbehaving and out of control. Why not deal with their concerns now when we still have much control rather than wait until they have become lawless or have taken the law into their own hands?

It is easier to prevent anarchy than to stop it. Kenya has a much bigger police force which is even much more better equipped than ours, but we saw how it became helpless in the face of mass riots.

Rupiah claims to be a very experienced politician but his comments about the opposition’s fears of rigging call into question his wisdom. How can he start threatening to sort out people before he has won the elections? Does he know something that we do not know?

It is this kind of irresponsibility that is causing the anxiety that is now gripping the nation.

Rupiah should not forget that our people are talking to each other and seeing who is more popular on the ground. When he expresses this kind of over-confidence and makes threats, he is undermining the credibility of the elections. We are not surprised because this is the way Rupiah has run his campaign. Instead of choosing a path of service, he has chosen a path of arrogance and surrounded himself with arrogant advisers.

Rupiah and his sponsors should not underestimate the crisis of confidence that is emerging over next week’s election. If he has nothing useful to add, he should have just kept quiet.

We expect Rupiah and his sponsors to behave maturely and responsibly but we seem to be asking for too much.

If this problem was just for Rupiah and his sponsors, we would probably not waste our time and talk about it. We need to talk about it because it affects all of us. After the elections are over, we need to live in a peaceful country.

We therefore appeal to all our people not to allow anyone wanting to tamper with the elections. We must expose electoral fraud wherever and whenever we see or suspect it.

Running a free and fair election should not only concern opposition parties. It is a responsibility or duty of every citizen. And those who offer themselves or allow themselves to be hired for any activity that takes away or undermines in anyway the credibility of our electoral process, the free and fairness of our elections, are criminals and should be treated as such.

This country has faced many challenges during its 44 years of independence. We have been very fortunate to have known peace in spite of all the challenges. On October 30 we will be electing our fourth president in 44 years. It would be a shame and a disaster if this process descended into anarchy.

These elections should not be won at any cost. They should only be won within the framework of the electoral rules and regulations that we have set for ourselves. Ours is a multiparty political system. This means political office will always be contested when a vacancy arises.

Therefore, winning and losing elections, as long as we remain a multiparty political state, should be a normal occurrence and should never be a matter of life and death as Mbita Chitala, one of Rupiah’s campaign managers had put it; it should never be seen as the end of the world for the losers. If it is seen as such, then people will be tempted to do all sorts of crazy things to retain or win power.

If it is time for Rupiah to go, he should go peacefully. And if it is time for Godfrey Miyanda, Hakainde or Michael Sata to come in, they should be allowed to come in peacefully. In our system of government, politicians should come and go, political parties should come and go. What should remain permanent is the credibility of our democratic processes, our electoral processes.

That should be the only constant. Just like UNIP and Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Frederick Chiluba left office when their hour came, Rupiah and MMD should be ready to leave when their hour is gone. Belief in the possibility of change and renewal is perhaps one of the defining characteristics of progressive politics, of meaningful politics and indeed of democratic politics.

And it shouldn’t be forgotten that the ways in which we achieve our political goals are bound by context, changing with circumstances even while remaining steadfast in our commitment to our vision. It is said that the great lesson of our time is that no politician can survive if he acts above the heads of the ordinary citizens of the country.

We said that we have been very fortunate to avoid violence and anarchy as a nation, but this is not an accident. Our people have always risen to the occasion when there was a challenge and dealt with it democratically. This has been helped by successive leaders. Dr Kaunda, as we have earlier stated, left peacefully. Even Chiluba, after his political engineering failed, left peacefully.

One of the key elements that has made peaceful transition possible in our country has been the involvement of a cross section of our people when serious issues have arisen. We have demonstrated a capacity to rise above petty differences to deal with fundamental issues.

When Chiluba tried to mutilate the Constitution in order to allow himself an unconstitutional third term in office, people from all walks of life joined forces to defeat his evil intentions. This is how the Oasis Forum, a grouping of church organisations and other civil society institutions – including the Law Association of Zambia – was formed.

One thing that we need to remind ourselves of is the role the church in this country has played in the maintenance of people and tranquillity. At every turn, the church has been there to give guidance. It is for this reason that we call upon the church once again, and in particular the Oasis Forum, to help the nation maintain its bearing.

We have a lot of confidence in justice Florence Mumba, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia, but the level of public mistrust that has arisen over this election will not go away unless there is full and total transparency.

This transparency will be difficult to achieve unless the Electoral Commission of Zambia opens itself to the counsel of a body such as the Oasis Forum that has so far taken a neutral stance in these elections.

There is need to make sure all the political players are brought together with the help of the Oasis Forum to ensure that the highest level of transparency is achieved, failure to which we may have anarchy, come October 31.

This nation knows no single genius; there can only be a collective genius. And let’s fall back on that collective wisdom.

This country has no single messiah, it can only have a collective messiah. Everything is within our means to diffuse this electoral tension that is today threatening to tear to pieces all our achievements as a nation.

Rupiah and his arrogant advisors have a critical role to play.

Their first duty is to clearly and in the most honest way try to understand and accept the political reality that prevails on the ground, in our country today. Any attempt to deny this will cause them and the nation a lot of problems.

It will also help the nation if they joined the efforts to ensure that the Electoral Commission is not undermined by being seen to be controlled and directed by them or other state agencies under their control or command. We want to hear them talking about transparency.

They should forget about their politics of benefits and of settling scores – Zambia is too important to be sacrificed on the altar of their political expediencies of the moment.

Labels: ELECTIONS

posted by MrK @ 5:40 AM