Maravi

Make ECZ independent, Bishop Mambo urges PF

COMMENT - There should be a constitutional separation in hiring and budgets, of the powers of state (legislature, judiciary and executive), as well as the government and state, and the party in government from the government itself. The ECZ is part of the state (the permanent business of government), and as such should be part of an independent civil service.

Make ECZ independent, Bishop Mambo urges PF
By Ernest Chanda, Moses Kuwema and Christopher Miti
Mon 26 Sep. 2011, 13:00 CAT

BISHOP John Mambo says the new Patriotic Front government should re-organise the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and make it an independent electoral body. And Bishop William Mchombo says the Anglican Church hopes that President Michael Sata will offer visionary and sacrificial leadership.

In an interview, Bishop Mambo who is Chikondi Foundation president said the behaviour of the ECZ officials during the just ended general elections had been very shameful.

"We don't want cadres anymore at the Electoral Commission of Zambia; all those people there who thought that they owed it to MMD should be dealt with. Their behaviour was very shameful and they should be probed over their behaviour on UPG (Universal Print Group), a South African company engaged to print ballot papers for the just ended general election)," Bishop Mambo said.

"Look at the way they behaved over the release of election results. You cannot have an Electoral Commission that holds people to ransom just because they want to please the ruling party. ECZ was not a referee in this election; it was a participant. ECZ was in the same camp with MMD and they thought they could fight the will of the people. But they should learn now that you cannot take God's people for granted."

He said those who were trying to hang on to power were not doing any service to the nation.

"If we were going to see bloodshed in Zambia, it was going to be ECZ and Irene Mambilima because they were not behaving as referees in the game. The mood in the country was high, people wanted to receive results but ECZ chose to listen to one side of the two competing teams. The entire ECZ must be abolished and start all over. I said it when they took Mambilima there that she is partisan. Let me also reveal to the nation that one of the senior officers at ECZ had vowed that so and so cannot be president for as long I am there. ECZ in its current form is not an institution to count on, it's a clear mockery," said Bishop Mambo.

In his congratulatory message to President Sata, Bishop Mchombo who is in-charge of the Anglican Diocese of Eastern Zambia said there was no victor and vanquished in the just ended election.

Bishop Mchombo hoped and prayed that President Sata would offer visionary and sacrificial leadership to the nation where peace and justice would prevail coupled with a relentless fight against corruption.

"And it is our belief that there is no victor or vanquished in this election but that the will of Zambians has prevailed and that we should all continue to live in unity and peacefully alongside each other and contribute to the development of this great nation," Bishop Mchombo said.

He congratulated former president Rupiah Banda for graciously accepting the results as the will of the people.

"We also congratulate the electorates for coming out in their numbers to cast their votes in a relatively peaceful manner thereby entrenching our democracy. Once again we have shown the world, especially in the sub-region that peaceful elections where the will of the people is respected are tenable. Above all we give praise and glory to God to whom all people of faith turned for prayers of peace and justice. Long live Zambia," said Bishop Mchombo.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, ECZ, JOHN MAMBO, PF

posted by MrK @ 4:18 PM