KBF WARNS ECZ BOSSES

KBF WARNS ECZ BOSSES

…you risk jail if you gift UPND more constituencies unfairly

By George Zulu

THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) must not manipulate the delimitation exercise by giving the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) more constituencies in its strongholds, Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) president Kelvin Bwalya Fube has warned.

In an interview ahead of today’s unveiling of the 2026 ECZ Constituency Delimitation Report, Bwalya warned that any attempt to favour the UPND would be viewed as a crime against humanity.

He said all ECZ officials, including commissioners, would be made to account for their partisan conduct once the UPND government lost power.

“The only warning that can be given to the ECZ is that the officers of the ECZ, they must understand that we’ve run elections before. And we understand how the delimitation process is supposed to be carried out. But in the manner that they’ve done it under Bill 7, it’s not acceptable. Because for all intents and purposes, we know that the UPND wants to favour themselves and they want more constituencies to be given in their stronghold,” Bwalya said.

He said Zambians were suffering under the UPND and it would be immoral for the ECZ to help those in power to suffocate the will of the people through manipulation.

Bwalya said those tasked to administer the ECZ must realise that governments came and went.

While those with immunity would survive for a moment, those officers carrying out illegal instructions from their supervisors would one day be made to answer.

“So maybe, for the team of [ECZ Chairperson] Mwangala Zaloumis and [commissioner McDonald] Chipenzi and newly appointed [Zevyanji] Sinkala and whoever else is at ECZ, they must understand that governments come and go, political parties come and go,” Bwalya said.

“And when they are gone, those people must be held accountable. There’s nothing that protects the commissioners of ECZ if they’ve done something wrong. Just like in the military, superior orders are not defence to a criminal offence. So, they must remember that whatever they are doing, they must do in the interest of the nation. They understand what they are doing and why they are doing it,” he said.

Bwalya said all those doing wrong things at ECZ would be followed as individuals – one by one – once the UPND lost power in August.

“But if it’s just being done to satisfy the UPND or the President in particular, then we have a problem. Because when the UPND leaves office, those people must be followed personally to justify the decisions they took whilst they were in office. And nothing by law will stop us from following them individually. I’m saying starting from the chairperson [Zaloumis] to the commissioners, they’re also Zambians, and they’ve got relatives who are also Zambians. So, it’s not about satisfying the feelings or the needs of the UPND,” he said.

Bwalya said the delimitation of the constituencies was born from an illegal Bill 7 and whatever has come out of that illegal process was still unconstitutional despite Parliament controversially passing it as law.

“Part of the problem that the delimitation process, in our view, is going to bring about is that nga ni ku mushi [if its in rural areas], for example in Zambezi, in Chavuma, in Ikelenge, in Mfuwe or in Nakonde, in Mafinga, in Mbala or even Kasama, even in Mporokoso, Kaputa, is that you’re going to divide chiefdoms and you’re going to confuse the Zambians,” Bwalya said.

He said there were many illegalities in the manner in which the delimitation process was conducted.

Bwalya said the law was clear on the process, what should be done before any delimitation was conducted.

“Remember by law, it’s supposed to kick in at the dissolution of parliament. So, there must be a period of education of the Zambians. Now, when people are going into the campaign period, when is that education supposed to be done? Because people may go and want to vote in their old voting polling stations,” he said.

He said the UPND was panicking and in a hurry for illegalities after realizing that they would lose the election.

“This problem of imingalato being brought about by the UPND is because the UPND realises that they are losing the game. So, it’s out of fear and desperation that this delimitation process has been carried out. But we must go back to the genesis of Bill 7. According to the Constitutional Court, Bill 7 was unconstitutional. So, the manner in which it was passed through Parliament, the manner in which it is being executed now to carry out the delimitation process is totally illegal and lacks legitimacy,” he said.

Bwalya said the world and the people of Zambia were following the unfolding desperation closely by those in leadership who were now working in collaboration with institutions of governance to break the law.

“The only way to do that is through these delimitation processes. So, the process is beginning from a very unfair angle and it’s beginning from a very unfair position for the opposition. So, let us warn the UPND, but especially the ECZ, that whatever delimitations they’ve done, if it is unfair on the part of the opposition, especially in the opposition strongholds, they shall be held accountable because we shall fight these elections for us to win. And after we win, we are going to follow those individuals, not because they’re out of office but because they did something illegal whilst they were in office and we shall follow them,” Bwalya warned.

ECZ carried out the controversial delimitation of constituencies in defiance of the Constitutional Court, opposition political parties, the Church, the civil society and traditional leaders.