Despite the hiccups to the start of the voter registration, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has managed to register slightly over 1.1 million voters countrywide in the first phase of the voter registration exercise.
Giving a ministerial statement in Parliament today in response to a point of order raised by UPND Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu who wanted to find out whether ECZ will manage to register its target of 9 million voters, Vice President Inonge Wina said that more data will be provided by the ECZ at the end of the registration exercise.
Mrs. Wina assured the nation that the ECZ will be able to review the voter registration exercise after each phase and that the officers will be able to go back to capture those that will be left out.
Meanwhile, The Patriotic Front (PF) has expressed happiness at the steady improvement of the voter registration exercise in Kitwe.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, PF Kitwe District Chairman Evaristo Chilufya said the first phase of the exercise at the beginning had a lot of challenges but following quick interventions by the Electoral Commission, the process has become faster.
“The process is slowly improving, it cannot improve in one day, as stakeholders we are concerned with the slow pace at which the process was going on in the first phase, we are engaging the ECZ and other stakeholders in trying to address the situation otherwise the process has improved and it is going on smoothly,” Mr Chilufya said.
Recently, the ECZ disclosed that it had reinforced manpower in registration centres to try and quicken up the process.
On Monday this week, the Commission also withdrew voter Education Facilitators from the field and redeployed them to registration centres so as to beef up man power in the registration centres.
And Mr. Chilufya has downplayed the concerns by some people that registering people in the night is exposing them to attacks by criminals and that the new cards would be grabbled from them by unscrupulous people.
But Kitwe Pastors Fellowship has expressed worry that the pace at which the voter registration exercise is going on in the district is still slow considering the estimated number of eligible voters.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS, Kitwe Pastors Fellowship chairperson Reverend Raddy Lewila said the Electoral Commission will not be able to capture the nine million target voters if nothing is done.
“The Electoral Commission should do something to improve the situation, otherwise the 9 million voter target will not be captured and a lot of people will not be able to vote, there is no way one person can be handling one person through all the stages taking over 30 minutes,” Reverend Lewila complained.
He also noted that the one week duration allocated for each registration centre was not enough given the slow pace at which the process is going.
He said the government should intervene and correct the situation before many people are disfranchised through failure to obtain voters’ cards.
He said he has been to several centres around the district and the situation is the same everywhere.
Please dont listen to this senile grandma Bo Inonge she just says anything without data and they don’t tell her anything
This is not an impressive achievement given the target number of 9 million.
Zambia debt crisis just the ears of the hippopotamus in Africa’s perilous fiscal position
Zambia debt crisis just the ears of the hippopotamus in Africa’s perilous fiscal position
Even in the less superstitious view, Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. In the African sovereign finance world, Friday 13 November 2020 will be remembered as the day in which one of the member states, Zambia, failed to meet its debt servicing commitments of $225-million due to the country’s lenders.
It is tempting to ascribe the country’s failure to meet its debt obligations to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Zambia and many Africa watchers have seen this coming. A recent seminar held by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Brenthurst Foundation shed more light on Zambia’s path to chronic indebtedness…
It’s such lies that have brought down this country. It’s pathetic. Process is so slow and it’s clear there are few machines available. There was no queue for those who pre-registered negating the advantage of doing so. Without extension, it will be a miracle to capture 60% of the eligible voters. At 18 hrs, hordes of people were told to get lost at Woodlands A primary school coz that centre closes at 18 hrs. This after hours spent in queues under the sun.
I doubt ECZ can deploy more people coz they will need training, but using what machines coz every machine is already deployed…!! We lost power around 15 hrs and the ECZ didn’t know how to power up their equipment..! Lost a good 45 mins or so. Now if this was happening in Lsk, what about rural areas ? Plan B is needed pronto. Extend, extend, extend pliz. Learn to listen for once. You had 5 yrs to plan & prepare
Who listens to this dementia woman?
Who listens to this dementia woman? Only Pathetic F.ools
Zambians want to be a part of the 2021 elections that’s why they are actively participating in the process of voter registration.
The reality is 999000 of those are going to vote pf
Glad that one million received voter cards in just one week.
UPND always wanted to ask questions to others but they don’t want to speak a word about their fraud leader.
ECZ will easily reach its target as they also increased hours of registration centers.
She is lying here too. Didn’t she tell the house last week that Zambia will not default on its loan repayment….unless am on a different page here!
But, why UPND MPs expressing concern for voters? None of the Zambians are willing to vote UPND after Tayali exposed HH in the media.
Its a huge mountain, there is no way ECZ is going to register the estimated 9million voters at the pace the exercise being conducted. If going by the Ministerial statement by her Honour the Vice President that slightly over a million pipo has been captured. Its practically impossible to register even 6million voters. The whole exercise is faced with so many challenges, not enough manpower, frequent breakdown of equipment, lack of publicity. I have been voting since 1970′ and has never witnessed anything like what is happening today. The old system was more efficient compared to today’s. In the past data was captured manually before being fed into computer for processing. No long ago NIKUV system used the same system and results were accurate. We expected the system to have improved…
Getting even 60% of the eligible voters registered will be a miracle. The system is very slow & it’s obvious there are few machines available. So even more personnel can’t be deployed coz training is needed first. All machines are deployed. ECZ grossly underestimated this task. Time to implement plan B by extending the period.
What a useless country we have become under this PF! The old system of the 70s is the one supposed to take 30 minutes to register one voter. In an advanced world of technology it should take just 5 minutes to register one voter. And the system should be able to detect those who register twice. What a country!!
Extend the process n make it 60 days instead of wishful 30 days. Every Zambian has a right to vote bear in mind it’s rainy season .
She said Zambia won’t default on loan repayment. Why are leaders in PF like telling lies? Minister of energy said the dam in kafuel gauorge once full the issue of electricity will be a thing of the past, but his zesco man kapata says load shedding will continue, kids play. And you want to be voted. Nakana.
This woman is a serial liar. What a leadership we have. No credibility at all. It’s shocking.
At this rate they can only manage to register 4 million voters.