Recruitment of Grade 11s to man polls in Chadiza by ECZ raise suspicion

With only 17 days to go before Zambians vote in the general elections and the referendum, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is leaving no stone unturned in trying to deliver a credible electoral process.

The commission has since trained poll staff that would be charged with the duty of carrying out the very important national duty.

In chadiza district 528 people have been picked and trained as poll staff for the forthcoming general elections and referendum.

Out of the 528 only 470 will be recruited to conduct the voting exercise.

However, the selection of poll staff in Chadiza district has been received with mixed feelings as grade 11s and school leavers without proper qualification have been picked to conduct the national duty.

A list that was made by a team of experts comprising the District Education Officer (DEBS), the Zambia Police, and the returning officer was repealed and replaced with a list that was done by trainers, a situation that has brought concerns in the area.

A number of residents that were dropped and left out of the list have continued to storm ZANIS offices in Chadiza to express their feelings over the electoral commission recruitment criteria.

District Training Officer, Kabange Masenga, has acknowledged the recruitment of a wide range of people including school leavers.

Mr Masenga said a number of school leavers have been recruited including other people that were already in employment.

And District Electoral Officer, Kennedy Kazanda, has refuted reports that trainers had recruited relatives and girlfriends.

Mr Kazanda challenged those coming up with such allegations to come out in the open and point out which trainer had recruited a girlfriend or any relative.

He also refuted reports that the electoral examination has been leaked, adding that the examination papers were intact as they were brought in from the electoral commission.

He said whoever was making such allegations should come up with a copy of the leaked paper as evidence because to him all was just a mare speculation.

The allegations come out when some participants were being hand-picked out of the training to go and collect their electoral certificates with others being threatened to be thrown out of the examinations.