By Sishuwa Sishuwa In contrast to the shortage of authentic, consistent heroes in public life, Zambia had a huge surplus of disappointing individuals and institutions in 2020, as the competition for shameless and uninspiring conduct grew even fiercer than in previous years. Indeed, such is the surplus that if we are really serious about diversifying and resuscitating Zambia’s ailing economy, we will do well to consider exporting many of them alongside copper. Linda Kasonde
The decision by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to discard a valid and lawfully established voters’ register, numbering 6 million voters, and draw up an entirely new one within a 30-day window could have been stopped if Linda Kasonde, the Executive Director of Chapter One Foundation, had not challenged it in the Constitutional Court in October 2020. Earlier in August, Kasonde had dragged the government to the ConCourt seeking two reliefs: an order mandating the electoral body to carry out continuous voter registration and another directing the Ministry of Home Affairs to implement the mobile issuance of National Registration Cards throughout the country. In early October, she amended her petition to ask for a third relief: that the decision by ECZ to ‘disallow currently registered voters from voting in the 2021 general election is unconstitutional and therefore null and void.’ In approaching the ConCourt on this specific matter, Kasonde messed up big time and demonstrated poor judgement in three most disappointing ways.