Badly run elections are costly – Justice Mambilima

Government says Zambia is highly committed to ensuring good governance and constitutional democracy as enshrined in the constitution.

Speaking in Lusaka today during the launch of the third African Governance Report under the theme “Elections and the Management Diversity”, Acting Justice Minister Ngosa Simbyakula notes that there have been improvements in some core areas of governance in Africa and in Zambia, particularly in the areas of electoral process, respect for human rights and the rule of law, decentralization of structures, effectiveness in state structure management and civil society organization engagement.

Dr Simbyakula notes that the country is also making progress in enhancing institutional capacity of democratic structures like the judiciary, parliament and horizontal accountability bodies like the Anti Corruption Commission, Human Rights Commission and other public agencies.

He adds that the basic principle is that people’s consent is the only legitimate justification for their being governed and that this is only achieved when people are educated and are literate enough.

Dr Simbyakula further states that Zambia is heading in the right direction through high commitment to the education sector as evident from the potion allocated to the education sector in the 2015 national budget.

And Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Chairperson Irene Mambilima says a badly run election can be more expensive than a credible election.

Justice Mambilima says African countries should therefore strive.
And Economic Commission for Africa Director Said Adejumobi says good governance remains central to the development of African countries.