Good morning ladies and gentlemen and colleagues from the media.
It is my honour to welcome you to Transparency International Zambia’s 2026 Quarter 2 Press Briefing, which today also marks the official launch of the “Kuteteza Masankho” Project under TI-Z’s Governance and Institutional Strengthening Thematic Area. The project name “Kuteteza Masankho” is derived from the Chewa language and literally means to protect what is chosen. In that sense, the project name carries a powerful and symbolic meaning of an intention to protect people’s votes. It embodies the project’s core mission of safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process and ensuring that every citizen’s voice is respected and upheld.
This project comes at a critical time in Zambia’s democratic journey as the country prepares for the 2026 general elections scheduled for the 13th of August. As TI-Z, we recognize that elections are not merely an event held on polling day, but a process that reflects the strength, integrity, and resilience of democratic institutions. Electoral integrity is therefore not only an elections issue, but also a fundamental governance issue.
Under the Governance and Institutional Strengthening thematic area, TI-Z works to promote transparent, accountable, responsive, and democratic institutions that are capable of serving citizens effectively and fairly. This thematic area seeks to strengthen institutional accountability systems, promote constitutionalism and the rule of law, enhance citizen participation, and support democratic governance processes that are free from corruption and abuse.
It is within this context that the Kuteteza Masankho Project, which we are launching today was conceptualized and developed. The rationale behind this project is informed by Zambia’s evolving electoral environment since the 2021 general elections. While Zambia recorded a peaceful transition of power in 2021 – an important democratic milestone – the country continues to face significant electoral governance challenges that threaten transparency, fairness, inclusion, and public trust in democratic processes.
These challenges include political violence, abuse of public resources, opaque campaign financing, increasing misinformation and disinformation, and concerns surrounding the application of recently enacted laws such as the Cyber Security Act, Cyber Crimes Act, and the soon to be assented Public Gatherings Bill. In addition, gaps within Zambia’s political financing framework continue to create vulnerabilities that undermine accountability and fair political competition.
Ladies and Gentlemen, It is against this backdrop that TI-Z has developed a comprehensive 2026 Elections Strategy aimed at safeguarding electoral integrity and strengthening democratic accountability across the entirety of the electoral cycle. The overarching goal of this strategy is to promote a transparent, accountable, and inclusive electoral environment that upholds democratic principles and fosters public trust in electoral processes.
The Kuteteza Masankho Project therefore seeks to achieve several strategic objectives. Firstly, it seeks to enhance public awareness on electoral corruption and strengthened citizen participation in democratic processes. TI-Z recognizes that an informed citizenry is a pivotal component of credible elections. The project will therefore implement nationwide electoral corruption education campaigns focused on electoral rights, responsibilities, integrity, and anti-corruption awareness.
Secondly, the project seeks to strengthen electoral integrity and oversight through systematic monitoring of the electoral cycle before, during, and after the elections. TI-Z will monitor electoral processes for transparency, fairness, misuse of public resources, political violence, voter manipulation, and other corruption risks that may undermine democratic processes.
Thirdly, the project seeks to promote accountable campaign financing. Zambia’s legal framework on political financing remains fragmented and insufficiently regulated. Through this initiative, TI-Z will continue its advocacy for stronger political financing legislation while also tracking campaign spending and expenditure patterns among political actors.
Fourthly, the project seeks to advance electoral justice and institutional reform by supporting legal and policy reforms aimed at addressing weaknesses within Zambia’s electoral framework that enable corruption, exclusion, or abuse of power.
Lastly, the project seeks to strengthen strategic partnerships and collective action by working closely with civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, youth movements, media institutions, and other democratic actors to amplify anti-corruption messaging and sustain public trust throughout the electoral process.
To operationalize this project, TI-Z will undertake a number of activities across the country. Among the key activities will be the deployment and training of 156 long-term monitors across all ten provinces of Zambia. These monitors will focus on campaign finance monitoring, electoral incident tracking, corruption risk monitoring, and broader electoral integrity assessments throughout the election period.
In addition, TI-Z will deploy more than 70 short-term monitors during the election period to observe polling day activities and constituency collation centres. The project will also include the rollout of a web-based campaign finance monitoring tool anchored in Article 60 (c) and (d) of the Constitution of Zambia. This platform will support transparency and accountability by monitoring political party expenditure patterns and campaign financing activities.
Further, TI-Z will conduct civic education workshops, electoral corruption awareness campaigns, stakeholder dialogues, legal reform advocacy meetings, social media campaigns, and coalition-building initiatives with various democratic actors across the country. The project will also produce electoral corruption risk scorecards, campaign monitoring reports, integrity assessments, public statements, and policy recommendations aimed at strengthening accountability and electoral governance in Zambia.
Ladies and Gentlemen, through our initial election monitoring activities that have been ongoing, TI-Z has begun observing disturbing developments within the pre-election environment, including incidents of political violence, intimidation, misuse of public resources, and restrictions affecting political participation in some parts of the country. These developments reinforce the importance and urgency of this intervention.
As TI-Z, we firmly believe that credible elections are built long before polling day. They are built through strong institutions, equal application of the law, informed citizen participation, peaceful political competition, transparent campaign financing, and respect for democratic rights and freedoms.
The Kuteteza Masankho Project is therefore not only about monitoring elections, but also about strengthening democracy itself. We call upon political parties, state institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, cooperating partners, the media, and citizens to support this initiative and collectively work toward ensuring that Zambia’s 2026 general elections are peaceful, transparent, inclusive, and credible.
With these remarks, it is my honour and privilege to officially launch the TI-Z Kuteteza Masankho Elections Project.
I thank you.
