It's Election Day in Zambia

First of all on a personal level a virus is going around at our orphanage in Zambia so please keep the children and house mothers in prayer.

Today is Election Day in Zambia. Our president unfortunately passed away on August 19 and according to Zambia's constitution there must be an election to elect a new president within 90 days of the death of a president. I consider this a ridiculous policy because this makeshift election is costing us $75 million which Zambia can't afford anyway but especially for something that wasn't in the budget. Donor nations including the US have given a total of $11 million to help but because of the global economic crisis there is no chance of anyone but Zambia covering the full amount. The election is also only for the remaining 3 years of the late president Mwanawasa's term so in 2011 we will be coughing out over $100 million for a full Parliament and presidential elections.

There are 4 candidates running. To be brief Sata is crazy he wants to kick out the Chinese, start a war and other outrageous plans. Then there is Rupiah Banda the acting president who has been using corrupt practices and trying to buy votes from people as well as using his control of the media to tell lies and try to scare the people. Then there is HH as he is known a wealthy business man and economist who I prefer. And finally, a former general who is expected to get less than 1% of the votes. A Zambian said it best "I will not recycle leaders who have failed us for over 30 years." Zambia's democracy was born in 1992. Regardless of the differences between the candidates in the current US elections or how anyone might feel about them in 4 years neither of them can destroy completely what Americans have built in over 200 years, on the contrary in Zambia one leader, as anyone can see from African history, can easily destroy everything good in less than a term.

Additional problems include the appreciation of the dollar making prices go up for Zambians, and the falling price of copper has caused depreciation in the local currency not to mention serious problems with the economy. We had a bad year agriculturally last growing season. In Zambia systems are in place to deal with one bad year but if there is a bad year again Zambia will be begging for foreign assistance which may not be available in a difficult global economic time.

Furthermore, accusations about election rigging have been widespread. It is documented that Zambia ordered 6,000 more ballots than they have registered voters for "contingency purposes". The practice of printing too many ballots is frequently used in Africa to rig elections. Additionally, a truck bringing the ballots to Zambia from South Africa was ransacked or something we don't know the whole story but there are fears some of the ballots have already been corrupted. Sata has already said he will encourage rioting and violence if he thinks the elections have been rigged. Zambia is a peaceful nation but there are people this time around who are upset so as we saw in Kenya anything could happen. Please pray for Zambia.