First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Namugala has ordered Republican Vice President Inonge Wina to update the nation on the on-going voter registration exercise.
Ms Namugala had ordered that the statement on the voter registration be given in the National Assembly by Tuesday November 17 2020 because of the vitality of the matter.
ZANIS Reports that Ms Namugala made the remarks in parliament today when responding to a point of order made by Monze Central Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu.
Mr Mwiimbu wanted to know whether the government was aware and what was being done about the challenges of manpower being faced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia to register voters in his constituency and other parts of the country.
“Madam Speaker, I raise on very important point of order this afternoon, as you may be aware, the voter registration by ECZ is ongoing but has been faced with a lot of challenges such as shortage of staff among others which is making people take a long time to access their cards, What is government doing to deal with such challenges I need a serous ruling on this matter,” he charged.
And in her response, Ms Namugala explained that due to the gravity of the matter and its value to the nation, immediately ordered the Vice President as leader of government business in the house to give a statement on voter registration in the country.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) commenced the voter registration on November 9 and will go on until December 12, 2020 with the target of capturing at least 9 million voters.
However, several stakeholders from the cross section of the society have bemoaned the slow pace of the exercise and called for expediting of the works.
One such stakeholder is Patriotic Front (PF) party that has expressed concern at reports from different parts of the country pointing to the slow pace in the on-going voter registration exercise.
PF Secretary General Davies Mwila implored the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), to urgently and effectively address all issues raised by different stakeholders, if the Commission is to meet its targeted number of registered voters.
I heard alarming reports of a single officer made to attend to a hundred people in the queue-ONE! Something’s not right. Correct this ba ECZ, and quick.
HH and Nalumango should agree to have Namugala as HH’s running mate.
Catherine Namugala is the Kamala Harris of Zambia, so hotty!!
Excellent. This is what democracy is about. As a government we are answerable. As we speak I have just come from a meeting with ecz officials as we have put them to task to explain to us what is going on. We as government do not want to take over ecz activities as ecz is meant to be independent. As such we have to follow procedures like any citizen to ascertain and get answers from them.
Nostra no one is willing to risk being hh running mate or vice president after seeing what has happened to all those that have held that position. Hh is a little insecure dictator who we will sort out come 2021. He will cry again when we beat his little arrogant backside. If you want to ever stand a chance of winning then change your leadership. This is advice coming from me who has been in opposition and won elections and continues to win elections.
Excellent!! This is true democracy indeed, holding people accountable and demanding for answers. It’s clear that checks and balances are in order. The VP understands that in a democratic state you will be questioned and must provide answers to the people. She has Not gone to Facebook to cry unlike other politicians.
HH running mate in my opinion should be Kaizar Zulu. The man is street wise and knows how to win elections.
Why are you asking that old hen let her sleep…all this is planned…you seriously think Lazy wants you all to register!!
That wig! I will never reconcile myself with this colonial mentality.
Thank you Tarino!! At last someone who is seeing things for what they really are. It amazes me how people are easily fooled. Do Zambians really think that ECL or mama Inonge really want as many Zambians as possible to register? All of this chaos and seeming incompetence – yes even the PF SG’s feeble complaints are carefully and deliberately orchestrated. Wake up!!!
Slow voter registration is simply PF’s scheme to register few people. A lot of people are very eager to register and cast their votes next year so they remove the most brutal regime in the history of our country. Last time we did well in voter registration. What has gone wrong this time?
I dont think statements from the VP will address the problem. The challenges experienced at various voter registration centres are now in the public domain. Why cant Parliament summon ECZ to explain what ECZ shall do to address the challenges in order to meet the target of 9 million registered voters. Maybe it is Parliament protocol I dont know, but this is a matter to be practically addressed by ECZ which still pretends to operate independently. Why should the VP be making statements concerning identified inefficiencies at ECZ? ECZ are paid to administer free and fair elections in transparent and efficient manner.
Stop wasting time ba Zambia start the demos. PF is not ready to hand over power. You will not get this power from the while sitted. Pafwa bantu pashala bantu.
The vip already presented an incorrect statement in Parliament last time on the voter register saying the old register for 2016 will still be used it’s only the dead people that will be removed.How then will she give a correct statement this time. ECZ is an Independent body just like Judiciary they dont receive instructions from other wings of government.Just petition Chulu to put his house in Order.
Unfortunately the independence of ECZ is just on paper. In reality, we still operate in a system which gives powers to the sitting president, who is also competing in the elections to appoint key office bearers at the ECZ. Therefore, the independence of ECZ is compromised in favour of the appointing authority. Meanwhile since ECZ and other stakeholders believe ECZ is an independent body, the ECZ should be directly petitioned to address the weaknesses experienced in their administration of the elections.
They don’t want too many registered voters as they’ll provide the rest. Zambia wake up. Why don’t they extend the process if it’s going on too slow. Opposition please don’t sleep at a crucial stage of the electoral process.
Kaizer Zulu and Diaspora Lady is the same person. Read all previous comments and you will see the language
hate these lawyer wigs