Referendum in muddle

According to the English dictionary, “a referendum is a process in which all the people in a country or an area are asked to give their opinion about or decide an important political or social question”. in our case, we are expected to vote YES or NO to the bill of right and repeal and replace article 79 of the constitution. Those voting yes are saying yes to the changes while those voting no will be saying the status quo continues.

The bill of rights is a set of legal guarantees that is set out within the constitution to protect fundamental rights and freedoms of individual.

Having explained what the bill of rights and referendum is, I can now make my point. Zambia is one of the very few countries to have taken the risk of holding a referendum alongside the general election. For many reasons we can argue that holding the referendum and the elections on the same day and time is a bad idea, but on the other hand the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the government have laboured enough to validate the action. And now with only few days before the referendum, it becomes pointless to state if it is okay or not that the referendum should be held in this manner.

The danger we have however is that the referendum has been highly politicised by both politicians and us the ordinary citizens. We have taken too much time debating issues of the timing and others things regarding the holding of the referendum. Unfortunately the ruling party has on many occasions told the citizens in public to vote YES to the referendum. On the other hand, most opposition supporters and their leaders have also told the citizens to vote NO in the referendum.

Psychologically this makes it look like those voting yes are in support of the ruling party and the ones voting no are for the opposition. Activists, civil society organizations and other commentators have also urged people to vote either yes or no depending on which side of the coin they want to sound to belong. In my view this disadvantages us and puts us in the danger of not being able to realise what we are voting for.

We have once again forgotten that our role is to sensitize the people and not choose for them what they should vote for. That remains a democratic right of individuals and we have to give people a chance to make an informed decision and choose their own destinies. It is wrong for any person to tell the citizens how they should vote in the referendum. Those who have the ‘know’ must be able to explain to those that do not know what is contained in the Bill of rights and allow them to make their own choices.

I fear we may not be able to get the desired results from the referendum. That is if it will even be successful as we are required to meet fifty plus one of the eligible voters in the referendum. An eligible voter in the referendum is any Zambia who is eighteen (18) years old and above and has a valid green national registration card (NRC). I am concerned that until now most of those who are not registered to vote in the general elections are not aware that they qualify to vote in the referendum. This is potentially going to cause serious voter apathy in the referendum.

I urge the politicians and indeed all of us to utilise the remaining time to spread the right information regarding the referendum and the bill of rights. It will be very painful and a waste of national resources to hold a referendum and fail to meet the threshold. It must therefore be in the interest of every Zambian that we depoliticise the referendum and concentrate on giving the right information and avoid misleading the voters.

“Do you agree to the amendment to the Constitution to enhance the Bill of rights contained in Part III of the Constitution of Zambia and to repeal and replace Article 79 of the Constitution of Zambia?”

God bless Mother Zambia as we go to the polls.