The Electoral Commission of Zambia ECZ has dismissed claims that once Article 79 of the Republican constitution is repealed, the country will never hold any referendum in future.
ECZ Principal Electoral Officer Mataa Sikota says it is wrong for some politicians to give false information to Zambians so that they do not participate in the August 11 referendum.
Mr Sikota said contrary to the claims, Zambia is likely to have several issues to take to the referendum in future if they are to make amendments to the current Article 79 of the constitution.
He was speaking in Kasama during a sensitization meeting for Provincial Heads of Government departments.
Mr Sikota said it is important for eligible Zambians to take part in the referendum to enhance contents in the Bill of Rights in the republican constitution.
Meanwhile, Northern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Borniface Mbuzi has thanked the ECZ for extending its sensitization meetings on the referendum to civil servants in the region.
It only points to one thing, ECZ has not done its home work. How on earth do you go to someone in Shangombo tell them to vote yes to something they don’t understand. If proper sensitisation was done, people would have been in a position to choose yes or no on their own. As things stand, some people think referendum is actually a person in the ruling party and therefore the reason why PF is saying vote yes while the opposition is saying no
But when are you banning campaigns in Shiwangandu?
in 2021
Referendum vote should have come on its own.I anticipate a lot of confusion in next month’s elections and some people will take advantage to rig. Be alert
The Referendum is a side show and not an urgent matter. We urgently need a Final Voter Register which we believe has so many irregularities meant to rig the 2016 elections. The information shows ECZ under the direction of Lungu is trying to rig these elections in his favour. ECZ should give the Final Electronic Voting Register to all participating parties in this election now. No Voters Roll No Elections! We don’t want our votes for HH stolen and donated to Lungu. Lungu must go. Forward with Team HH,GBM and UPND.
It is not only people in the rural area who don’t know what their voting in referendum, people should not always refer to people in the remote area even us in town we don’t know.Even I, there is need to know what is in the referendum.
What baffles me most on this issue is that the so called interlectuals are busy advising electorates to vote yes on something they don’t know, the best would be education, teach us what it is all about, cones and prongs then we decide what to vote on. Full stop