Maravi

George’s rigging revelation

George’s rigging revelation
Written by Editor

"WHEN it comes to elections, we must have a level playing field where we can compete. At the end of the day the party which is popular will win the elections. "...but at the same time the electoral officers, teachers must serve without these biases so that we can have elections which are competitive and which are genuinely free and fair.

"Teachers must play a fair game. In fact, they work for the Electoral Commission of Zambia; the Electoral Commission of Zambia is there to provide free and fair elections, so they are agents for the Electoral Commission and we want an independent Electoral Commission, not what we have seen here."

Who can disagree with these words? They are not our words. They are George Kunda's words in Chitambo Constituency on Monday.

Elections are very important because they are the central institution of our representative system of government. And the authority of our representatives, at any level, should derive solely from our consent, we the people they represent. The principle mechanism for translating that consent into representative political authority is the holding of free and fair elections.

And in such elections, the party in power may enjoy some advantages of incumbency, but the rules and conduct of any election contest must be fair to all.

If the elections are not seen to be free and fair by those contesting and the voters, citizens will have no confidence in the results. There is need to conduct our elections in a manner that ensures that citizens are confident that the results are accurate and that the political authority of whoever wins does, indeed, rest upon their consent.

And it should never be forgotten that these elections are not, or should not be, a matter of life and death but a competition to serve.

If what George said was all he could say and do, no one will have any quarrel with him on this score. But his anger with the teachers at Reuben Primary School on Reuben Island raises some serious concerns.

George expressed fear that some teachers who are presiding officers in tomorrow's parliamentary by-election in Chitambo Constituency will rig elections in favour of the Patriotic Front candidate following their decision to shun his campaign rally: "How can such teachers preside over elections? They will start rigging.

"Where do you find the headmaster walks away when he knows we are coming? We are also disappointed that teachers are becoming partisan supporting the PF. I am here as your Vice-President but instead of being here, they have all disappeared. What kind of teachers are these? The teachers have also been distributing pamphlets urging you the voters to vote PF. This government will not tolerate indiscipline. We want teachers to teach our children. That is their duty not to be involved in partisan politics. It's unfortunate! Like here for the first time a Vice-President comes here, you should share...what are the problems which you are facing here in terms of educating our people and then teachers...because they are partisan, they leave the place. Now, it's unfortunate, we should continue with political education and of course if people don't want to work in a non-partisan manner, they should leave the government. It's unfortunate. Teachers must work with the government of the day, helping in the implementation of programmes."

What is George really talking about? What should Zambian people make of his concern or fear that the teachers in Chitambo Constituency will rig the by-election in favour of PF? How possible is it for these teachers to rig elections? Is George telling the Zambian people something they don't know but ought to know? So elections can be rigged in Zambia! If the opposition can manage to get teachers to rig elections on their behalf, what more the ruling party, the party in government?

Put simply, George's statement amounts to an admission that rigging is possible and does occur in our elections. This is a serious indictment of our electoral process and indeed the Electoral Commission of Zambia. It will be very difficult for anyone after this to defend the integrity and impartiality of our Electoral Commission. George says, "...we want an independent Electoral Commission, not what we have seen here." What has he seen there about the Electoral Commission that lacks independence? Is it just about these humble primary school teachers at Reuben Island who decided to stay away from his meeting? What can one say about the possibility of his party rigging the elections where the teachers warmly welcomed him and had nothing to do with the opposition? Are they also going to rig in favour of the MMD? Will the opposition be unjustified to fear the possibility of that?

It is clear to us that George's concern is not about the general integrity of our electoral process but what his party gets out of it. Where there is support for the MMD, whatever happens is not an issue. Teachers, it seems, cannot be partisan if they lean towards the MMD. They are only partisan when they seem to be more inclined to support the opposition.

There is no need for George to pretend that he was in Chitambo, at Reuben Island as an impartial, non-partisan government official who should be welcomed by all. George was in Chitambo as a political and partisan animal. He was there chasing votes for the MMD candidate. It is abuse of public workers for George to expect the teachers at Reuben Primary School to attend to him and his rally. George was not their guest; he was the guest of the MMD in that constituency. And those teachers actually demonstrated a high spirit of independence, integrity and non-partisanship by staying away from George's campaign rallies.

George would have had no problems of partisanship if he had found those teachers clad in MMD T-shirts and chitenges chanting "the hour has come" for him.

Why should they attend his political rally as if it was a government meeting?

George says "this government will not tolerate indiscipline". But who is indisciplined in this case: a government worker who stays away from partisan political gatherings or a Vice-President who is urging them to attend a political party campaign rally? It is not the teachers who are indisciplined; it is George who lacks discipline and needs to be disciplined.

Clearly, it is not indiscipline George is concerned about. What worries George; what has angered him is the independence of these humble teachers, their independence of thought and action.

There is need for George to realise that government workers are not MMD servants. They have every right to stay away from MMD campaign rallies. We can only hope that the humble action of these humble primary school teachers at Reuben Island will be emulated by all our teachers and other public workers countrywide. There will be need to monitor what happens to these teachers after tomorrow. They will not be alone. Many Zambians of goodwill will defend their right to stay away from MMD campaign rallies if ever they are victimised for that.

As for George's rigging charges, the consequence is that it will now be very difficult for anyone to have confidence in the results of tomorrow's by-election. And we challenge the Electoral Commission of Zambia to explain to the Zambian people why they should think the Chitambo by-election cannot, will not, be rigged in the light of the Vice-President's revelation that in Zambia rigging is possible through Electoral Commission agents such as these humble teachers.

Labels: ECZ, GEORGE KUNDA, VOTERIGGING

posted by MrK @ 6:42 PM