ECZ should be disbanded – Mundubile

By BARNABAS ZULU

BRIAN Mundubile has demanded that President Hakainde Hichilema should immediately dissolve the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and reconstitute it because it has now become more than evident that it has been converted into a cadre-branch of the UPND with its current officials and commissioners highly politically compromised.
Mr. Mundubile, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament condemned the ECZ for alleged bias and incompetence in managing the Kawambwa by-election, claiming that the body had failed to demonstrate impartiality and should no longer be allowed to superintend over the electoral process of the country.
“I am very happy that as an alliance, we decided to participate in this by-election. Had we not participated, we would not have known how UPND has been stealing these by-elections since 2021.
I want to commend members of the Tonse Alliance. We agreed on one thing and resolved that we are going to come in very strong and we have been on the lookout,” Mr. Mundubile said.
“What we have discovered should be a source of concern for every Zambian. The stories of rigging, marked ballots, and all those stories that are flying around, malpractices, are as true as you read them on social media,” he said.
Mr. Mundubile alleged that the UPND and ECZ had become dangerously desperate and were ready to break the country’s electoral laws to manipulate the outcome of the results in Kawambwa.
“Now, as a result of our resilience, as a result of our members staying alert, UPND and ECZ have decided that their only way out is to introduce a new register,” he said.
He added that the people of Kawambwa were determined to express their dissatisfaction with the government through their votes, particularly in protest against the incarceration of prominent political figures, including Nickson Chilangwa and Ronald Chitotela.
“The people of Kawambwa are resolved, they have said we will cast a protest vote to show the UPND government that we do not agree with the incarceration of Mr. Nickson Chilangwa, Ronald Kaoma Chitotela, Chifumbe Kalumba, because these people are merely being persecuted,” Mr. Mundubile stated.
Addressing the broader issue of ECZ’s conduct, Mr Mundubile questioned the competence of the current leadership whom he said were politically inclined to the UPND. “What comes into question is for how long should we sit back and watch what ECZ is doing? Are we sure that the current officials and commissioners at ECZ are capable of handling elections? Look at how many things have happened in the last two weeks in these elections. ECZ is there. Everything points to ECZ,” he said.
Mr. Mundubile has reiterated his call for immediate action in the dissolution of the ECZ.
“I want to join my colleagues who spoke earlier to call upon President Hakainde Hichilema to immediately dissolve ECZ.
As Tonse Alliance, we will not accept going forward, the current commissioners and officials at ECZ. They have displayed total incompetence, bias, impartiality, lack of accountability, lack of transparency as it were. Electoral malpractice is what we are seeing every day,” Mr Mundubile said.