Africa-Press – Zambia. BREBNER Changala has expressed worry about President Hakainde Hichilema’s recent appointments at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) board, describing it as corruption in a way.
Recently, President Hichilema appointed lawyers Mwangala Zaloumis and Ali Simwinga as chairperson and vice respectively, subject to ratification by the National Assembly.
The President also appointed journalist and good governance activist MacDonald Chipenzi as commissioner. But Changala, a good governance activist, feels that President Hichilema is copying his predecessor Edgar Lungu’s partisan and tribal appointments.
“My appeal to Mr Hakainde Hichilema is look at Zambia holistically. Look at Zambia in totality. Remove whatever feelings that you have for your kith and kin, and depart from the agenda of the tribal chaos that Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu left. After all, that was part of the reason why he was removed from office,” Changala told The Mast. “And it is extremely worrisome that he must copy the way and agenda of his predecessor where you laud people because of where they come from. It’s a danger that can cause instability in the nation. Look at the structure that you have created in the Executive, especially the appointments to constitutional offices and under quasi-government institutions. Look at them and take a breath and sincerely evaluate your conduct as to whether you have been doing things partisanly or in national interest.”
He said the act is a complete shift from the known tradition of appointing judges who are deemed to be non-partisan. “The appointment of Mwangala Zaloumis and MacDonald Chipenzi to the ECZ is a shift, much of betrayal. A serious challenge to an independent electoral body. For a long time now the Electoral Commission of Zambia has been headed by a judge or a retired judge. Somebody who has not been synonymous with partisan politics. They might have picked a side that they consciously support but is not known to the electorate and the general public,” he explained. “We have had judge Bobby Bwalya, we have had judge Florence Mumba, we have had judge Irene Mambilima – may her soul rest in peace, and we have had judge Esau Chulu. I am not saying they did not have an opinion on national matters that could have politically allowed them to have a feeling or belief either in UNIP, MMD, or indeed UPND.”
Changala reminded President Hichilema how he refused to accept ECZ results when in opposition, but only accepted the time he won last year. He said during that time President Hichilema never provided any evidence about accusations he made on the ECZ.
“But what is seriously concerning is that we have Mr Hakainde Hichilema who was the leader of the UPND for 16 years of the 23 years that UPND has been in existence. 16 years of that UPND life belongs to Mr Hakainde’s leadership. And out of 16 years, Mr Hakainde stood for president five times and he lost. And in these five times, Mr Hakainde never accepted the electoral results by the ECZ; whether under judge Florence, whether under Irene Mambilima, and to some extent under Esau Chulu,” he said. “The only election result that he accepted is when he won. That he accepted. Now, denying or refusing election results five times; his argument was that the ECZ was partisan. That the ECZ was bought. That the ECZ was corrupt without a singular presentation of evidence. Without proving on how judge Florence Mumba was incompetent or partisan, how judge Mambilima was incompetent or partisan.’’
He said people expected President Hichilema to make justifiable appointments looking at the long period he spent in opposition. Changala wondered why President Hichilema could not pick an ECZ chairperson from among the retired and serving judges in the country.
“One would have thought that having been in opposition for 16 years, having understood the electoral differences and challenges he was going to do much better. But for him to stubbornly think that it’s courage to go in his own backyard and appoint people that are sympathetic to his party and to his personal cause is being disingenuous. And that is corruption in itself,” he said. “Having been in opposition for 16 years, he should have done things differently as we have always urged him. At the time he removed judge Esau Chulu in the last two months, there’s a judge of the Supreme Court – judge [Charles] Kajimanga retired from the Supreme Court. He (President Hichilema) could have gone for any judge that is either serving or indeed in retirement. Somebody who is coming to ECZ without any known linkage to the ruling party or indeed any other political party.’’
Changala further accused President Hichilema of having an agenda to create chaos instead of consensus. “What we’re now seeing is that Mr Hakainde has an agenda which he is not mentioning in character. He has an agenda to create controversy where there’s supposed to be consensus. Out of 18 million Zambians one would wonder as to why he can only look in one direction, and that direction is only UPND,” said Changala. “If he does not revoke these appointments I can assure you, and I’m not a prophet, I can assure you that there’ll be no peaceful elections in this country because if God willing UPND from nowhere starts to win any elections at every turn, people will have every reason to suspect that there’s malpractices which are engineered by the Executive.”
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
