Zambia: Party financial disclosure

Updated August 2006

Political parties may be required by the Registrar to submit the financial accounts of the party for inspection at any time, though requests for audited accounts must have a minimum deadline of 28 days (Societies Act, 19(3), (4), 20, 22).

The Societies Act (section 38) empowers the Minister to issue rules for the execution of the terms of the Act, including rules governing information disclosure and the submission of financial accounts (section 38(d), (f)). In terms of this the Societies Rules have been issued, which require the submission of annual returns providing information on annual general meetings, office bearers and other changes made (Society Rules, 16). Financial information on the assets of a party, balance sheets and accounting documentation may also be requested by the Registrar (Society Rules, 19).

Information gathered this way may be published by the Minister, if the Minister believes that publication of the information is in the best interests of the members of the party (Societies Act, 22).

The Registrar has twice resorted to these provisions to deregister parties that failed to submit annual returns; in 1998 14 parties were deregistered in this way and in 2006 a further 13 parties were deregistered (Zambia News Online 1998, BBC 2006). The 1998 deregistration was uncontroversial since the parties involved were small and largely inactive. The 2006 deregistration, however, included the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD), which holds 12 seats in parliament (Momba 13). A deregistration like this is not necessarily permanent, since by submitting the annual returns the party involved may be reregistered.

References

BBC 2006, "Zambian opposition parties barred", 3 March, [www] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4770926.stm [opens new window] (accessed 25 Feb 2010).

SOCIETIES ACT (CAP 119).

SOCIETIES RULES (CAP 119).

MOMBA, J 2005, Political Parties and the Quest for Democratic Consolidation in Zambia [PDF document], EISA Research Report No 17, 13.

ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE 1998, "14 Political Parties Deregistered", 25 March, [www] http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Newsletters/zno38.html [opens new window] (accessed 25 Feb 2010).