OUR country has a troubling contradiction at law which remains at the centre of our governance system: presidential candidates are required by law to declare their assets and liabilities to the Electoral Commission of Zambia, yet those declarations are hidden from the very citizens who are supposed to benefit from that transparency. This is weird. What is the real purpose of such a declaration if the public cannot see it? In any functioning democracy, transparency is a foundational obligation. Accountability does not begin and end at the ballot box. It must be sustained through systems that allow the public to verify that those entrusted with power are not abusing it. Since 2021, when President Hakainde Hichilema came into office on...