THE barbaric act by some Mpongwe residents on the Copperbelt to confiscate voter registration equipment last Friday made sad reading.
This is the second time that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) officials operating in Chief Mwinuna’s area have suffered at the hands of the Mpongwe residents.
Kabwe police had to summon and question Chief Mwinuna over the assaulting of police and ECZ officials deployed to the area to conduct the mobile voter registration exercise.
When the first incident happened in Mpongwe, President Edgar Lungu ordered the arrest of the perpetrators of such acts regardless of their political affiliation.
It is surprising that despite that presidential directive and condemnation of the harassment of ECZ officials, these incensed Mpongwe residents still threw caution to the wind and decided to take the law in their own hands.
On his part, Chief Mwinuna claimed that he did not incite his subjects to grab the voter registration material.
But the fact that he openly stated that the ECZ officials did not follow procedure when they started the exercise in his chiefdom, that act can easily influence the people to derail the whole process.
The chief said he was informed by the police that the officials who were to conduct the voter registration exercise did not follow the right procedure by not announcing their presence at his palace.
According to Chief Mwinuna, his subjects got upset with the officials’ failure to report themselves to his palace, leading to the confiscating of the equipment.
We are told the Mpongwe residents in Chief Mwinuna’s territory do not want to be registered as voters in the new Ngabwe District of Central Province instead of Mpongwe on the Copperbelt.
But the Mpongwe people could have found another way of airing their views than getting the equipment from the ECZ officers.
There is need for all concerned parties to urgently settle this matter and allow the hapless ECZ officials conduct their business freely.
Sanity should, therefore, prevail and there is need for the Mpongwe residents to deal with this matter with cool heads.
Probably, ECZ needs to do more in terms of sensitising the masses on the importance of registering as voters.
Like President Lungu said, attacking the ECZ officials is an infringement on democratic rights and voter processes.
Traditional leaders also should be taking a leading role by continuing facilitating and supporting the voter registration through sensitising and encouraging their subjects to register as voters in line with President Lungu’s call.
All citizens should be allowed to exercise their democratic rights by registering as voters as it is one way they can participate in the governance of this nation.