Livingstone | July 15, 2026 – With the country inching closer to the polls, prosecutors and police investigators yesterday, Tuesday July 14, 2026, locked themselves in a day-long tactical session designed to fortify the frontlines of electoral justice.
The National Prosecution Authority’s Livingstone team, led by Senior State Advocate Mr. Victor Choongo and State Advocate Mr. Malama Mataka, convened an interactive training with the Zambia Police Service yesterday, zeroing in on the investigation of electoral offences. But beneath the technical discussions on evidence gathering and case preparation lay a sharper, more urgent focus: protecting women from electoral violence and ensuring that perpetrators face the full weight of the law.
The session, titled “The Investigation of Electoral Offences,” was not a lecture. It was a working clinic with prosecutors and investigators sitting shoulder to shoulder, dissecting case files, interrogating past failures, and mapping out a playbook for the weeks ahead. The objective was simple but ambitious to equip officers on the ground with the skills to build watertight cases that will withstand the scrutiny of the courts.
“Elections are a test of our democracy, but they are also a test of our justice system,” Mr. Choongo told the officers. “Every act of violence, every threat, every incident of intimidation, particularly against women, must be investigated with the same rigour we would apply to any serious crime. Because that is precisely what it is.”
The training placed special emphasis on violence against women during electoral periods, a scourge that often goes unreported and under-prosecuted. Officers were guided through the nuances of gathering testimonies from vulnerable witnesses, preserving digital evidence, and building cases that do not collapse at the first hurdle.
Mr. Mataka highlighted the importance of timeliness, reminding the officers that in electoral matters, justice delayed is often justice denied. “The clock is not our friend,” he said. “We need investigations that are swift, thorough, and court-ready.”
The Livingstone District Police Command welcomed the initiative, with officers describing the session as both timely and practical. The engagement is part of a broader series of pre-election preparations being rolled out by the NPA across the country, as the authority braces for a potential surge in election-related cases.
As the electoral calendar ticks closer, the message from Livingstone is clearly that the rule of law will not take a holiday. And those who seek to undermine the peace through violence or intimidation, particularly against women, will find that the long arm of the law is already reaching for them.
The NPA and the Zambia Police Service urge members of the public to exercise their democratic rights peacefully and to report any incidents of electoral violence or intimidation without delay.