THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has revised rates of allowances for officers participating in the voter registration exercise.
And the ECZ says the continuous mobile voter registration is expected to gain momentum.
Solwezi Municipal Council town clerk Jim Zya confirmed the upward revision of allowances, saying the commission has adjusted the allowances following concerns from the field officers.
Mr Zya said town clerks, council secretaries and provincial local government officers’ allowances have been increased from K1.3 million to K4.5 million per month.
He said the commission has also increased allowances for assistant technical registration officers from K2.8 million to K4.5 million per month.
Mr Zya also said monthly allowances for assistant registration officers working in rural and urban areas have been increased from K2.3 million and K1.8 million to K4.5 million and K3.8 million, respectively.
He said the ECZ wrote to provincial local government officers, town clerks and council secretaries notifying them that rates have been revised following discussions with the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
Mr Zya said discussions for allowances for Zambia Police officers attached to the exercise are still ongoing and will be communicated as soon as revised rates are finalised.
He urged the officers to remain committed to duty, saying there is no need to delay the exercise as their concerns are being addressed.
ECZ began the continuous mobile voter registration exercise on Monday with some centres registering low levels of potential voters.
In some parts of the country, the programme could not take off because of confusion arising from demands to be paid allowances.
Some police officers have also been reported to have refused to accept the K1 million monthly allowances in the voter registration exercise offered by ECZ, claiming the amount was too little.
And ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna said the first day of such a national exercise usually has hiccups.
Mr Akufuna said in response to a press query that it is the hope of the commission that the turnout will improve in due course.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Voter Apathy has called on civil society organisations to help in sensitising the public on the importance of registering as voters.
AVAP executive director Bonny Tembo said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that civil society organisations can play a role in sensitising the community on the importance of the continuous voter registration.
“As civil society organisations, we can play our role in ensuring that most members of the public are sensitised whenever we have an opportunity to do so,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Sorry bloggers,i wont stop repeating myself everyday.Lets tell our friends and relatives to register as voters in big numbers so that we can VOTE OUT MMD in 2011.
Cant imgine another 5 yrs of RB!!!
you are dreaming ka red card. MMD is here to stay. Tell your relatives about the dangers of voting for PF/UPND
#1, Red Card, Your call to people to register is a sound one and you should leave it at that. Your objective may however not be achieved if you can not indicate to the voters who your alternative leader is. I will stand by for your advise on which alternative leader you are proposing.
# 3.
Of course the PACT candidate.!!!!!
Iwe ka redcard you are still a kaponya? watch your demise come 2011! MMD is winning well beyond rupiah and into Katele Kalumba’s govt. watch how we do it!
@ 1 Red Card-abena Libala South. I am registering as a voter for the first time. And I am voting based on the evidence of infrastructure developments I last saw in the 1970s. Unfortunately, I am a development issue based citizen. I have not heard any Opposition manifesto arguments on infrastructure developments so far. By now they should be telling us what they will do differently instead of merely ranting RB this, RB that.