The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the ruling UPND’s handling of duplicated adoption certificates as very worrisome and dangerous, warning that the practice undermined women’s participation in politics ahead of the 2026 elections.
NDC President, Saboi Imboela, said the controversy went beyond partisan interests because it spoke directly to the integrity of Zambia’s democratic processes.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Wednesday, Imboela said political parties served as gatekeepers of democracy and were the entry point through which citizens accessed leadership and public office.
She questioned what it meant for internal democracy, fairness, transparency, and public trust when a party openly acknowledged issuing more than one adoption certificate for the same position and defended it as a “strategy.”
“Political parties are gatekeepers of democracy. They are the entry point through which citizens access leadership and public office,” Imboela said.
According to Imboela, both candidates caught up in the duplication became victims of a flawed process.
She said one is left believing they were the preferred candidate while another was forced to file under pressure and uncertainty, creating conflict, confusion, tension, and in some cases violence.
The NDC leader said organisations like NGOCC, whose mandate was to promote equal participation of women and men in political leadership, were not acting in a partisan manner when they supported women candidates during nominations.
She argued that supporting women candidates was part of ensuring women were not excluded from political processes. If a woman held an official adoption certificate, Imboela said, she had every legitimate reason to present herself for nomination.
Imboela stressed that political violence and chaotic nomination processes disproportionately discouraged women from participating in politics.
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“The adoption process is normally rigorous and brutal for some parties and women face a lot of barriers just to emerge as winners. So to see that even a winner of such a process can still be made to forcefully give up her legitimately acquired adoption certificate is very disheartening for many of us women in the country,” she said.
She said Zambia could not aspire for inclusive democracy while normalising disorder, intimidation, and uncertainty within political party structures.
Imboela called for justice and fairness for the affected women and respect for people and organisations like NGOCC that had stood with the women through the experience.
“We call for justice and fairness for the affected women and respect for people and organizations like NGOCC that have stood with the women through out this unfortunate and chaotic experience,” she said.
The NDC president said the moment called for serious national reflection on the quality of internal party democracy and the kind of political culture being built ahead of the 2026 elections.
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