Zambia: Electoral Law Must Be Enforced

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The Times of Zambia (Ndola)

EDITORIAL
10 October 2008
Posted to the web 10 October 2008

THE rule of evidence in any justice system is central to the determination of any matters of contention.

Simply put, an individual would be deemed guilty or otherwise based on the sum total of evidence that is brought before the courts of law.

Similarly, even in matters of dispute, evidence would need to be assessed impartially to determine which side the guilty weight falls.

Global convention expects individuals or parties to make accusations or bring charges on somebody together with evidence to support the accusations.

In fact in the modern legal system, it is defamatory to accuse anybody of wrong doing when there is no evidence what-so-ever.

It is in this context that the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Mike Mulongoti is advising members of the public to come out in the open if they have any evidence that the Government plans to rig the October 30 presidential by-election.

There can be nothing fairer on the part of the Government which has even assured that action would be taken against those found to have infringed the electoral law.

It is sad that in Zambia, a culture has evolved where people make serious allegations against others, especially public officials, based purely on speculations and innuendoes.

A lot of utterances have been made particularly with regard to the electoral process, yet not even a single individual has come forward to provide proof of what they are alleging.

This is not what societal norms demand.

It is not only unfair and malicious but misleading to propound falsehood under the guise that it is the truth.

This tendency speaks volumes about the character of any person who can consciously go about spreading information which they know is false.

To begin with, it is a sign of untrustworthiness because in human relations and interactions, those who constantly deal in truth are deemed worthy in the eyes of other men and their character is vouched for.

The opposite obtains for any individuals that build up a reputation of telling lies or embellishing the truth for their own gains.

Speaking untruths could also be a sign of being insecure and unsure of oneself.

One cannot espouse imagined difficulties or hurdles in the future when there is no basis.

This is normally a way of preparing the ground to explain away imminent failure in any undertaking.

The unsupported fears that are being spread about the forthcoming elections are, therefore, spurious and lack any logic.

The Government will ensure that free and fair elections are held and it has consistently said so.

Even to the die-hard sceptics, as Mr Mulongoti has pointed out, it is not possible for the elections to be rigged because all the points are monitored by all the political parties and civil society.

In addition, the whole process, including the printing of ballot boxes, has been monitored by all interested parties.

In these circumstances, any expression of doubt about the transparency of the electoral process clearly lacks credibility.

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