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The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has demanded that President Hakainde Hichilema should with immediate effect release the 2019 Boundary Delimitation Report, which contains details of the number of Polling Stations, Polling Districts and Wards created prior to the 2021 general elections.
Article 229 (2) of the Constitution of Zambia provides for functions and mandate of the Electoral Commission of Zambia, which among other things includes Delimiting boundaries for purposes of conducting elections.
According to CCMG Steering Committee Chairperson Andrew Mwenda, these were created prior to the 2021 general elections and the proposed increase to the current number of constituencies.
Mwenda said in a statement on Thursday that CCMG was concerned with the secrecy surrounding the 2019 Boundary Delimitation Report which up to now has not been released to the public, despite the ECZ submitting the same to the Executive.
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He said the report was critical to planning for both state and non-state actors and must be in the interest of the resident to release such reports to the public for their effective participation.
“It is disheartening that huge sums of tax-payers money were spent on this exercise and four years later the 2019 Boundary Delimitation Report is still being held by the executive,” Mwenda said.
He said CCMG believes that government’s continued holding on to the report undermines the principle of transparency on the part of government, which consequently has a bearing on the independence of the ECZ and its ability to fulfil its mandate without influence from the Executive.
“CCMG reiterates its call for expeditious constitutional and electoral reform to give the Electoral Commission of Zambia full independence so that it fulfils its mandate independent of any political influence,” Mwenda said.
Contributed by Augustine Sichula
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