An electoral expert has expressed concern at the emerging trend by the ECZ of recruiting part-time poll staff away from the districts they are registered as voters.
McDonald Chipenzi who is former FODEP Executive Director said there is a risk of disenfranchising the people being recruited something he said would contribute to voter apathy.
“There is need for the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to reconsider the recruitment criterion of part-time poll staff ahead of the General Elections to avoid disenfranchising some of recruits.
“The emerging trend of recruiting individuals as part-time poll staff from other districts to manage polling stations away from the districts where they are registered in has got a disenfranchising effect on many recruits.
“This has the potential to also contribute to voter apathy and to undermining the very democratic process the Commission is supposed to promote and nurture,” he said.
Mr Chipenzi has since called on the Commission to redeploy the poll staff who have been taken away from their districts.
“To this end, the appeal to the Commission is to redeploy those Poll staff to their districts of origin to enable them participate and exercise their political and electoral rights.
“It is also imperative for the Commission to consider putting mechanisms that ensured quality control on the recruited staff to avoid inefficiencies that have a potential to compromise the administration and management of the electoral process,” he said.
ECZ has become a PF cadre organisation and one day the people involved shall dance to the music. Look at Mugabe. His veterans have rejected him. Chakolwa Lungu will be rejected by Zambians because of his violence and all those supporting his violence shall dance to the music. where is KK?
In 2015 polls it was suspected that in some strongholds returning officers in those areas had helped in the rigging process of one opposition presidential candidate – and the reason why he was claiming to have won even before the votes were counted – Chitenzi knows about this hence his crying wolf…
Mr Mcdonald Chipenzi is a UPND cadre and does not know the operations of ECZ…You cannot be sent to areas you’re familiar with to avoid suspicion… If that was Mr Chipenzi’s strategy with VJ and Lawyer Martha Mushipe, that won’t work for you…
Time is running out as get closer to the Polling Day. ECZ has still not furnished the Final Electronic Voters Register to all stakeholders. When are we going to get this Register? Surely we cant for elections without this Register. Lets hope that the delay in releasing the Register means that the Register is being rigged and voters are being disenfranchised.ECZ should be careful not to cause Voting Riots in Zambia.
UPND and BITTERNESS
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Chipenzi just stfu! We know that you are a bitter UPNDestruction serious goon. You’re are also busy undermining the efforts of the ECZ as far as the referendum is concerned. Enemy of progress. Kindly get a life.
One of the major qualifications of being a UPNDown affiliate or member is unreasonable BITTERNESS.
Let the ECZ operate autonomously. They are the experts in this field and they need no lectures especially from UPNDestruction low energy fellaz like Chipenzi. Useless statement.
VIVA UPND,VIVA HH 2016