Friday, May 20, 2011

Policing elections

Policing elections
By The Post
Fri 20 May 2011, 04:00 CAT

The police play a very important public interest role in every democratic election. They are required to protect all eligible citizens participating in the electoral process. Their ability to play these roles without engaging in intimidation, coercion or violence against the citizens is crucial to the success of the elections.

If the police are found wanting in the discharge of these duties in any election, the citizens may not have confidence in the electoral process and may question the credibility and legitimacy of any government that emerges from the process and the lack of a credible government is the sine qua non for instability in a polity.

For these reasons, we welcome the announcement by Grace Mulapesi, a commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Zambia, that they expect the police to carry out its mandate in this year’s elections without fear or favour and in an impartial manner.

Mulapesi’s statement is very important because our police have not acted without fear or favour and in an impartial manner when it comes to elections and politics in general. Our police have always sided with the ruling party. The police have allowed members and supporters of the ruling party to get away with crime.

We know very well that the great majority of instances of electoral or political violence in this country have been started by cadres of the ruling party but the police have always turned a blind eye.

However, they have been very quick to react to instances of violence initiated by the opposition and have dealt with them ruthlessly. No one should be above the law. The right to equality before the law is fundamental to any just and democratic society.

Whether political ally of those in power or opponent – all are entitled to equal protection before the law. And under no circumstances should the police impose additional inequalities; it should be required to deal evenly and equally with all political parties, their members and supporters. When this happens, both law and democracy are served.

We also know that the police have been used in electoral malpractices in favour of those in power. They have allowed cadres and supporters of the ruling party to engage in all sorts of electoral malpractices with impunity.

There are cadres and supporters of the ruling party who have been caught with ballot papers, with other people’s voters cards and the police have allowed them to get away with it.

In a word, the police have allowed the rigging of elections in this country. This must stop. It would be very difficult to rig elections in this country if the police were allowed to do their job with independence and integrity.

But we have a police that is an extension of the ruling party, the party to which those who appoint and promote members of the police high command belong. The police is under the command of the President, who is also the leader and candidate of the ruling party.

The police are also under the direction of the Minister of Home Affairs, who is also an appointee of the President and usually a parliamentary candidate himself. Clearly, a police that is totally under the command of a highly partisan group cannot be expected to carry out its duties without fear or favour and in an impartial manner.

We have not had such a police service in Zambia. Those in the police who have attempted to act in that manner have paid a very high price even under the most democratic or fair-minded political leadership.
The police have a very crucial function.

By maintaining law and order and guaranteeing public safety, they ensure that voters can attend or follow the campaigns and rallies so that the candidates and their supporters are able to reach the people and convey to them their visions and programmes.

This helps voters to have a position and decide who among the candidates is suited for them to elect and in so doing make an informed choice among the options they are presented with.

If the police do their work properly, they are able to safeguard the security of lives and property of citizens before, during and after voting. In this way, citizens will not feel unsafe on account of holding, associating with or expressing a political opinion.

This also helps electoral officers to carry out their duties without fear or favour and in a manner that is impartial because they know that nothing will happen to them for having done their job the right way or for refusing to rig elections.
Candidates need security from the police.

The provision of security to candidates during campaigns and elections must be done on equal proportion regardless of whether it is the candidate from the ruling party or opposition. In our country, there is no meaningful protection given to opposition candidates.

Their meetings are often harassed or disturbed by ruling party cadres with impunity, with the police watching but doing very little, if not nothing, to stop them.

There is need for the police to ensure and preserve a free, safe and lawful atmosphere for campaigning by all parties and candidates without discrimination. This is not the case. It’s only the ruling party candidates who receive this protection.

While the police do provide peaceful conditions, law and order around polling and counting centres, they often do so in the interest of the ruling party.

We say this because in areas where the political parties are not well represented, the police have aided the ruling party in one way or another to win elections.

It is the duty of the police to ensure that election materials at voting and counting centres and during their transportation thereto are not stolen, hijacked, destroyed or fraudulently altered by any group or persons.
The police are critical to law enforcement. There is no need to have electoral laws which are not enforceable.

We see so many breaches of the Electoral Code, especially by members of the ruling party, but nothing happens – no one arrests and prosecutes them. It is important that the police be given adequate space to ensure respect for the rule of law as contained in the Electoral Code of Conduct and the electoral Act.

And to be able to function in such an efficient, effective and orderly manner, in addition to maintaining impartiality throughout the whole electoral process, police officers must be alert in carrying out their duties in relation to any electoral processes.

They also need to be proactive and prevent incidents that could lead to disruption of voting or other legally permitted electoral activities.

A police officer on any election duty must be courteous, approachable and accessible to voters and other citizens who may need their assistance. Professional conduct must be maintained at all times by the police service and its officers on any election duties.

The police are obliged to be fair, if necessary firm to all persons within their vicinity of deployment without discrimination on the basis of political affiliation. They must always strive to be fair to all and avoid conduct that could be seen as high-handed, unfair or politically motivated.

We say this because if a police officer’s action is viewed as excessive or unfair, it could lead to serious election-related trouble. And a police officer on election duties must be well-vested with the laws, rules and regulations guiding elections in addition to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In addition to all these, a police officer on any election duties must ensure that the use of force is only strictly necessary and such force should always be proportional to lawful objectives. For this reason, we welcome the initiative to train police officers in what it takes to efficiently police elections.

Consequently, a lot needs to be done before we can overcome the deficiencies of our police in policing elections. And reforming the way of policing elections should be an integral and important aspect of any electoral reforms we undertake. The police need to do their old things in a new way.

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posted by MrK @ 5:09 AM 0 Comments

Mususu urges cops to enforce Electoral Code

Mususu urges cops to enforce Electoral Code
By Moses Kuwema
Fri 20 May 2011, 04:01 CAT

THE police should try by all means to enforce the Electoral Code of Conduct during this year’s elections, even though it is a loose one, says Bishop Paul Mususu.

In an interview, Bishop Mususu, who is former Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia executive director, said the issue of revising the current code of conduct was a dead one because there could be no amendments that can be made.

“The point of revising it is a dead one. I don’t see the current electoral code being amended. We are likely to go into this election with the old law. It will be helpful if our leaders could appeal to their cadres not to engage in violence. We are all Zambians I don’t think we need to kill each other,” Bishop Mususu said.

“Cadres should be disciplined to ensure that life is protected.”
And Bishop Mususu said it was evident that the campaigns had already started even before the election date could be announced and that there was no party which was innocent.

“Campaigns have already started and it is clear that the provisions of the law are not being respected, there is no party which is innocent. Everyone is in campaign mood, except maybe Heritage Party president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda. It is clear that the practical aspect of the law is not being followed.

One would have expected these parties to observe the law but that is not the case and at this stage, not even the ECZ Electoral Commission of Zambia can do something about it,” Bishop Mususu said.

During the launch of the election related programme of training of law enforcement agencies at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel on Wednesday,
ECZ said it expected the police to carry out its mandate in this year's elections without fear or favour and in an impartial manner.

ECZ commissioner Grace Mulapesi said the legal framework was already in place to support the work on the police.

Commissioner Mulapesi said the ECZ had noted with regret the growing incidences of violence that have been observed in the past few years especially during by elections such as in Mufumbwe.

“This has shifted the attention on how elections should be policed in Zambia. Elections are premised on the exercise of free preference manifesting itself in various forms of political expression,” Commissioner Mulapesi said.

And Inspector General of police Francis Kabonde at the same function warned that police would arrest any person who may attempt to incite or participate in any act of violence regardless of their political affiliation.

Kabonde, who called on the media not to incite people to breach the public peace, also urged stakeholders, political parties, civil society organisation and other interest groups to work closely with the ECZ if the country was to attain a violence-free election.

Meanwhile, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director Viola Morgan said the maintenance of law and order enabled candidates and voters to participate in political campaigns.

Morgan said a peaceful environment was a complement to a transparent, free and fair electoral process.

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posted by MrK @ 5:00 AM 0 Comments

Saturday, February 13, 2010

ECZ’s effectiveness compromised by inadequate funding – Mulapesi

ECZ’s effectiveness compromised by inadequate funding – Mulapesi
By Sututu Katundu
Sat 13 Feb. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has said its effectiveness is compromised to some extent, as it is not able to execute its mandate in full due to inadequate funding from the Treasury.

Making submissions before the committee on Legal Affairs, Governance, Human Rights and Gender Matters, ECZ Commissioner Grace Mulapesi said elections were a national exercise whose execution required colossal amounts.

She said the failure to commence Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) was due to lack of resources as the approved funds in 2007 could not meet even the basic minimum costs to start the exercise.

Mulapesi said the 2010 national budget provided K70 billion for CVR out of the K110 billion budget that the Commission had planned for its activities and this affected the effectiveness of the Commission and contributed to the negative perception of the Commission in the eyes of the public, especially political parties.

She said the Commission had planned to implement CVR by fully decentralising its operations through establishing offices with permanent staff in all the 72 districts to accord it direct supervision of its staff and ensure that the officers were accountable to the Commission, and thus improve efficiency in the districts.

Mulapesi said this would have allowed eligible citizens to have access to voter registration services all year round, which would include new registration, transfers, amendment of details, and removal of deceased voters from the register.

The CVR will be implemented this year through periodic mobile registration campaigns through which the Commission hopes to maintain a permanent, up to date and accurate register of voters.

The voter registration stations will be opened for an initial period of 90 days during which an average of six registration officers equipped with Digital Mobile Registration Kits will be deployed in each constituency.
The officers will conduct voter registration in each polling district within the respective constituency, which implies that registration will be open at each registration centre for an average period of 12 days.

Mulapesi said other activities will include periodic publications of the provisional register for public verification.

Other issues being considered include the mechanism for diaspora-voting by citizens resident abroad and the strengthening of the Electoral Code of Conduct (ECC).

And responding to concerns by Chongwe member of parliament Sylvia Masebo on the printing of ballot papers abroad, Mulapesi said Government Printers always fell short and did not do as required in terms of security which was very weak and almost non-existent.

She said if Government Printers met their requirements, they could be used.
She said it was not always the Commission but the stakeholders who are suspicious and added that if everyone else was happy with Government Printers then ECZ would have no problem using them.
ECZ deputy director Priscilla Isaacs dismissed assertions suggesting that intelligence officers are employed during elections.

ECZ legal council Eric Kamwi also said the Commission would opt for the amendment of some clauses of the Electoral Act if the NCC fails to wind up its business in time for the 2011 elections.

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posted by MrK @ 3:20 AM 0 Comments