Maravi

OP officers and rigging

OP officers and rigging
By The Post
Sun 18 Sep. 2011, 13:55 CAT

RIGGING and other electoral irregularities are a violation of the rights of the voters. Those who engage in rigging or other electoral irregularities are committing a very serious crime against the individual voter and the society at large.

It is very saddening when law enforcement agencies are the ones behind rigging, electoral irregularities and fraud. It is unfortunate that today, our intelligence and security agencies are seen as the riggers of elections, as the perpetrators, abettors of electoral irregularities and fraud.

Many people in Zambia believe that elections are rigged by our intelligence and security services. Our people also believe that when those in power want to do wrong things, they use the intelligence and security agencies to do so.

Many of our people don't like the intelligence. The intelligence are a discredited profession in the eyes of most of our people. This is understandable because there is no way an institution that is used to rig elections, to do wrong things, to commit crimes can retain public respect.

And this being the case, there is need to redeem this very important institution and profession and put it where it is supposed to be.

What has led to this situation is the political abuse that our intelligence service has been subjected to. The intelligence system was not made to be abused by those in power. The intelligence service is for all Zambians and it is supposed to serve all our people and not just the man in State House.

The obligations of the intelligence service to the people should take precedence over loyalty to those in power, to the man in State House. If the man in State House wants the intelligence to rig elections for him, they should say no.

Our intelligence officers have an integral duty to protect all the citizens of this country. And no one is well served when the intelligence is used to do wrong things, to commit crimes, to rig elections. Our intelligence officers must therefore acquire the professional expertise to offer independent judgement and the moral courage to say no to any abuse.

Much like Shakespeare's court jester who was accorded special status to speak uncomfortable truths to those in power, intelligence officers must be able to tell those in power what they ought to know and not simply what they want to hear, and always do the right thing and not the wrong those in power want them to do.

In this way, we will ensure that our intelligence officers and agencies are viewed as a credible and noble force for good. This is especially necessary today when they are seen by many citizens as elements that are used to rig elections. The security goal that our intelligence officers must pursue must be one of peace, fairness, justice, honesty, stability, development, respect for human rights and good governance.

There is need for us to build a professional, effective and accountable intelligence that Zambia requires to meet the complex security needs of this century. Zambian taxpayers need value for money from our intelligence and security agencies. And to achieve this, very high levels of professionalism are required from all our intelligence officers and agencies.

Rigging elections is not only unprofessional but also an illegal and criminal act. It is treason.
All this said, we still believe in intelligence services and we should all do everything possible to ensure that our country has a good intelligence service.

No one should cheat themselves that we don't need an intelligence service in today's Zambia. We need it. And it has always been needed. What we don't need is a criminal intelligence service, an intelligence service that rigs elections, that engages in corruption on behalf of those in power or indeed on its own behalf.

And in saying this, we are looking back to the genesis of intelligence, where the Old Testament has God instructing Moses to dispatch spies into the land of Canaan. As societies evolved from clans into kingdoms, empires into nations; growing more complex and independent in their interactions with each other, so did the nature of the threats confronting them.

This meant that the need to gather intelligence grew, where states increasingly relied upon the vigilance of their lookouts to safeguard their interests, which today must include security, good governance and the wellbeing of their people.
These developments ultimately gave rise to the establishment of specialised intelligence structures that are a feature of modern governance. And in the unpredictable global world that we today inhabit, the necessity for intelligence has intensified; now more than ever, it is absolutely vital to be reliably informed, for as the saying goes "knowledge is power".

We therefore cannot afford to discard or neglect this old-age craft because it is being abused by those in power to rig elections and commit all sorts of crimes and engage in all sorts of wrongdoing. Yet its utility is expressly dependent on the professionalism of our intelligence officers and the extent to which they are able to recognise and deal resolutely with deficiencies, correct weaknesses and root out any abuse.

In a country like ours, striving to achieve a good level of multiparty democracy, intelligence services should be subject to a range of controls and oversight to facilitate their accountability and professionalism; keeping a close check on the legality, propriety and effectiveness of their activities. Of course, this in itself will not guarantee that no errors or mistakes are made.

But where mistakes are made despite the existence of these measures, they must counteract the potential for a recurrence and avoid fraud products, mindful of the words of an intelligence commentator: "That the medicine can, if not administered under the very strictest and widest supervision, have the effects which are as damaging as the disease."

It is for this reason that we need to enhance an awareness of the necessity for legality and propriety at all times. Our intelligence officers should be fully made to realise that they don't stand above the law; are accountable to all the Zambian people in their diversities and complexities; accept the principle of political non-partisanship; owe their loyalty to the Constitution, our people and the state; and appreciate that they must maintain high standards of performance.

Again, central to the attainment of all this are the responsibilities of our intelligence officers within their structures towards our people and to ensuring that at all times the law is strictly observed. Rigging elections is a violation of the law.

But this must not be interpreted as tying the hands of our intelligence officers and their agencies but rather as ensuring greater quality, accuracy and professionalism in their work and a deeper sense of personal confidence in their decision-making and actions.

Our intelligence service has suffered serious image degradation since the exposure of the corruption that was perpetrated by Frederick Chiluba and his intelligence chief Xavier Chungu using the intelligence Zamtrop account. What this has taught us is that whilst the development of laws and external oversight mechanisms are critical, our intelligence officers also need to look beyond them to internally regulate their own actual professional and ethical conduct.

Rigging elections is unprofessional and unethical. This is an enduring challenge that should apply to every intelligence officer, whatever their rank, in this country.

We should therefore purposefully identify and overcome whatever limitations our intelligence officers and agencies are facing. And as we try to improve their performances in all sorts of ways, we should seek to meet the statement of the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes who said: "Reliable intelligence agents are to those that exercise the responsibility of governance like rays of light to the human soul."

It is in this light that we call for increased professionalism in our intelligence service. This is a very important institution and profession that should not be left to the whims of expediencies of the man in State House. Let's learn a lesson from how Chiluba abused the intelligence to steal millions and millions of dollars from our people.

Let us not forget how our intelligence officers and agencies have been abused to falsify the will of the people during elections. This must end.

We must not witness this on Tuesday. We appeal to all those who have been assigned to rig Tuesday's elections not to do so, to disobey the illegal and criminal orders or assignments. It is not good for our intelligence officers and agencies.

It is also not good for our country and for all our people whatever their political affiliations. Rigging of elections must be stopped at all costs.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, VOTERIGGING

posted by MrK @ 12:59 AM