KunjyGroup
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 7, 2009
- 352
- 26
RUPIAH Banda wanted to resist leaving power after his September 20 electoral defeat to Michael Sata, an influential London based investigative magazine has revealed.
In its October 7, 2011 edition, Africa Confidential, quoted Zambia's State House sources saying Banda was on the verge of declaring himself winner of the September 20 presidential poll after realising he had lost the elections to then opposition Patriotic Front (PF)'s Sata.
Africa Confidential reported that it was only the intervention of top advisors, electoral officials, founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda, and United States and European Union diplomats on September 22 that persuaded Banda not to subvert the results and stay in office.
"The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Justice Irene Mambilima, is reported to have threatened to resign and tell the world the truth if Banda did not accept defeat. US Ambassador Mark Storella warned Banda that if he did not respect the election results, he would only be able to maintain power by brute force," Africa Confidential reported. "A despondent Banda, faced with advice and warnings from so many different quarters, gave in and shortly afterwards publicly conceded defeat."
Africa Confidential reported that delayed announcements of results and Sata's hints on polling day that the vote was being rigged encouraged suspicion and unrest over Banda's intentions and fuelled the protests in the Copperbelt towns of Kitwe and Ndola where two protestors died during large-scale rioting.
"One factor that gave the opposition confidence that rigging would be difficult was the deployment of some 9,000 observers to monitor polling stations across the country by a civil society organisation, the Civil Society Election Coalition. Using a method called parallel voter tabulation (PVT), monitors take a sample of voting intentions to project probable national results, much like exit polls'," Africa Confidential reported. "The results are believed reliable enough to highlight anomalous voting patterns caused by ballot stuffing. The ECZ tried to stop PVT because it was afraid of inaccurate results being released. The ECZ was set up as an independent regulator but its powers remain limited because the necessary amendments to the Constitution have not been made."
Yaani jamaa kutolewatu na si kwa hiyali kama walivyotaka tuamini mashabiki wake
In its October 7, 2011 edition, Africa Confidential, quoted Zambia's State House sources saying Banda was on the verge of declaring himself winner of the September 20 presidential poll after realising he had lost the elections to then opposition Patriotic Front (PF)'s Sata.
Africa Confidential reported that it was only the intervention of top advisors, electoral officials, founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda, and United States and European Union diplomats on September 22 that persuaded Banda not to subvert the results and stay in office.
"The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Justice Irene Mambilima, is reported to have threatened to resign and tell the world the truth if Banda did not accept defeat. US Ambassador Mark Storella warned Banda that if he did not respect the election results, he would only be able to maintain power by brute force," Africa Confidential reported. "A despondent Banda, faced with advice and warnings from so many different quarters, gave in and shortly afterwards publicly conceded defeat."
Africa Confidential reported that delayed announcements of results and Sata's hints on polling day that the vote was being rigged encouraged suspicion and unrest over Banda's intentions and fuelled the protests in the Copperbelt towns of Kitwe and Ndola where two protestors died during large-scale rioting.
"One factor that gave the opposition confidence that rigging would be difficult was the deployment of some 9,000 observers to monitor polling stations across the country by a civil society organisation, the Civil Society Election Coalition. Using a method called parallel voter tabulation (PVT), monitors take a sample of voting intentions to project probable national results, much like exit polls'," Africa Confidential reported. "The results are believed reliable enough to highlight anomalous voting patterns caused by ballot stuffing. The ECZ tried to stop PVT because it was afraid of inaccurate results being released. The ECZ was set up as an independent regulator but its powers remain limited because the necessary amendments to the Constitution have not been made."
Yaani jamaa kutolewatu na si kwa hiyali kama walivyotaka tuamini mashabiki wake
