IT is surprising to hear the raucous debate shifting from load-shedding, and appreciation of the Kwacha to where the printing of ballot papers should be done.
Note: It is not that people who are advocating that the ballot papers be printed locally have the interest of the country at heart. No.
They just want something to talk about in our newly-won democracy that everyone is abusing with impunity.
The subject of where the ballot papers should be printed (irrelevant as it is) has been politicised and even trivialised by some people.
Even when President Edgar Lungu has made it abundantly clear that it is up to the Electoral Commission of Zambia to decide where the ballot papers will be printed, the wolf pack has continued crying blue murder at ECZ and the Government.
If the Government had contracted a local printing company, we were going to hear the same cacophony complaints of intended malpractices that the Government is being wrongly accused of.
Despite President Lungu going out of his way to iron certain nibbling issues with the ECZ ahead of the August 11 elections, which is giving some opposition members migraine, the opposition, which is PF-phobic, is finding faults with almost anything the Government is doing.
Among the people against printing of ballot papers by a Dubai company is the Zambia Council for Social Development which has warned that intentions by the ECZ to use a Dubai firm to print ballot papers for the 2016 elections will bring conflict.
In a statement, Council executive director Lewis Mwape, who should be a seer than a director, recently said if the decision was not rescinded, the Zambian people would question the motive and this may be the source of conflicts in the electoral system.
What an alarmist!
In a TB Joshua prediction, Mr Mwape has already ‘predicted’ conflict and thus called on both the opposition and the PF to rescind the decision.
Then we have the quaintly named organisation called the Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) which has added its voice to the topic to justify its poorly-defined relevance.
The organisation has called for the creation of an independent body that would supervise the printing of ballot papers if they were to be produced locally.
Executive director Richwell Mulwani was recently quoted in the media saying the hullabaloo surrounding the printing of ballot papers would only be put to rest once the material was produced locally as opposed to contracting international companies to do the job on behalf of Zambians.
Mr Mulwani said that while the printing of ballot papers had nothing to do with the final results of an election, the perception had been created that the printing process was vulnerable to rigging which contributed to voter apathy in previous elections.
Again our comment on this subject that this paper has been covering for decades is that the fears of rigging are unjustifiable, betraying the underlying factor of just blaming the Government of intended electoral malpractices which is largely emanating from the unpreparedness of the opposition for the elections.
Note that previously the Government has been accused for renewal of car licences, national registration cards, the grade 12 clause and other progressive exercises.
We feel the issue of printing qualitative ballot papers, accomplishing the job in time and autonomy of ECZ are issues that should form sensible and progressive debate.
One would then wonder and cry out to the heavens on what difference it will make if a Dubai company or a Zambian one prints the ballot papers?