NGOCC blames government for referendum failure

The Non Governmental Organizations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) says it is deeply saddened by the failure of the National Referendum following the results announced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on the referendum question, as proposed in the National Referendum Act of 2016.

The NGOCC however says it is not surprised by the outcome as it has confirmed the fears the organisation had about the entire process.

“As we have stated before, we were not opposed to the holding of the national referendum to expand the Bill of Rights (i.e. to include Civil & Political Rights and Economic, Social, Cultural and Environment Rights). We were, however, opposed to the holding of the two national processes together as the outcome would be affected by the politicization of the national referendum,” NGOCC board chairperson Sara Longwe said in a statement.

“As an organization, we had warned the Government and specifically President Edgar Lungu that holding the National Referendum and the General Election together was setting the national referendum for failure. The national referendum was bound to fail because of the highly partisan charged environment of the general elections. An important exercise like the national referendum, which is not a partisan issue, should have been held separately. We hope that the Government has learnt from this process that superciliousness never pays. It is sad that the failure of this National Referendum will adversely affect the Zambian people ultimately.”

Longwe has since demanded that government constitutes a small expert team, as a matter of urgency, to address some of the unclear provisions in the Bill of Rights, especially those  that negatively affecting women and children such as Articles 24, 26, 29, 31, 35 and 45, among others.

She said is also need for the Government to provide a clear road map for the holding of an all inclusive national referendum which will not be politicized, coupled with a legal framework to protect the content of the referendum documents.

“It is incumbent of the government and the civil society to begin to conscientise members of the public on the provisions of a Referendum Act, and the Bill of Rights.

“Further, Government should ensure that the Bill of Rights is translated into all the seven local languages, including braille copies to cater for the differently abled persons and these should be distributed to all the ten provinces of Zambia,” she said.