THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has said the selection of a company to print ballot papers for the forthcoming by-elections was transparent and done through a normal tender procedure.
The commission has since challenged “doubting Thomases” to verify with relevant authorities the tender process which was publicly conducted.
The ECZ has set July 5, 2012 as the date for parliamentary by-elections for Muchinga, Chama North and Livingstone constituencies and a number of local government by-elections around the country.
The Muchinga seat fell vacant following the death of former vice-president George Kunda while the Chama North and Livingstone seats fell vacant after the High Court nullified them.
ECZ spokesperson Cris Akunfuna said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the selection of a London printer was based on the normal tender procedure of the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA)
He said the commission had invited printing companies to bid for the printing of the ballot papers for the elections.
“The process to award the printers is a normal laid down procedure and all the requirements were given and published in the newspapers. The United Kingdom-based company, Smith and Ouzman met the conditions and it was awarded the contract,” he said.
And Mr Akufuna has announced that the ballot papers for the three by-elections were expected in the country today.
He said once the ballot papers arrived, the commission would invite political parties participating in the elections to inspect them as per normal procedure.
Mr Akufuna urged political parties to report any unfair treatment that they may encounter during the campaign period in the three constituencies to the conflict management teams in the districts.
He said the conflict management team would review the complaints and act appropriately.
[Times of Zambia]
I bet the PF used “magic jumping ink” to make the tender documents appear legitimate.
Just localize your printing ba mumbwe. Ask yourselves whether or not the people printing your ballots have their countries’ ballots printed in foreign lands! This idea of pre-emptive responses to non-existent complaints is just exposing incompetence.
The president said we will stop printing ballots from outside the country, was it also a lie? How many lies
While we appreciate that the tender procedure was transparent, which should always be the case, what Zambians want and what the president HEMCS promised, is to print ballot papers within Zambia. Yes it isn likely to be more expensive initially, but once the country goes thru the learning curve, it will be cheaper in the long run.
Besides, for the sake of localising employment of our people and transfer of skills and technology, it will be worth the extra cost as an investment into our people. After all, are we already wasting valuable money on state foreign travels? Such money can be used to subsidize ptinting ballot papers within Zambia.
Whats the purpose of our independence??????? Do we understand self reliance???
Does ECZ have people with “initiative”????? Do we understand that by empowering local businesses we CONFIRM OUR INDEPENDENCE??????
Just becoz it is open tender, GOVT still has the prerogative to make certain rules to promote local business – make no mistake, THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR PROMOTING LOCAL BUSINESSES CORRUPTLY!!!!!!
apparently countries like nigeria, kenya, tanzania, botswana dont print their own ballot papers locally. but whatever the case we should not copy every jim and jack after all we are Zambia