Friday, March 29, 2024

Printing of Mayoral, Council Chairperson ballot papers complete

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The printing of Mayoral and Council Chairperson ballot papers by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is now complete.

ZANIS reports that ECZ Director for Electoral Operations Royd Katongo confirmed the development in Dubai today.

Mr Katongo said the printing company has now started the process of stapling and binding the ballot papers for the combined 116 councils, cities and municipalities.

“Today we confirm that there is progress on the printing of Mayoral and Council Chairperson ballots which have been completed by the printer. What is remaining is stapling, cutting and packaging them according to each respective polling station and district,” Mr Katongo said.

Mr Katongo also said the printing of national assembly ballot papers was progressing well for the 156 constituencies, as well as the presidential ballot papers that were signed off for printing yesterday.

He however indicated that the Commission has since resumed the verifying of local government ballot papers in readiness for printing which was suspended to pave way for the presidential and national assembly ballot papers.

“We had suspended the verifying of the local government ballot papers as they were bulky whose remaining number is 1,099 wards out of total 1,858 wards in the country. This excludes those that have gone through unopposed and have cases of deaths or resignation. So far, we have verified 759 wards,” he stated.

Mr Katongo also said the printing of other election material such as the results announcement forms and posters has also commenced.

“Printing of the famous GEN 20, the form used by polling officers to announce results has started and as well as posters for stations. The posters are different languages for respective districts,’’ he disclosed.

The Senior Electoral Officer said the Commission will ensure it prints adequate materials which will be sufficient for use during the elections.

Mr Katongo explained that all election material that require security features are being printed by the Al Ghurair Company in Dubai owing to its capacity and experience in security feature printing.

ECZ Vice Chairperson Emily, Commissioner Ret.Maj,Gen.Vincent Mukanda and ECZ Legal Counsel Bob Musenga during media briefing
ECZ Vice Chairperson Emily, Commissioner Ret.Maj,Gen.Vincent Mukanda and ECZ Legal Counsel Bob Musenga during media briefing

And ECZ Head of Procurement Dabson Mwale revealed that other than the contract awarded to the Dubai based firm, the commission has spent over K40 million on Zambian based companies for printing of other non-security election materials.

“If anything, the commission has contracted over 10 Zambian companies to provide ECZ with materials which have been used since the voter registration started last year. To date K40 million has been spent on local companies who printed election materials that do not require security,” Mr Mwale said.

Among some material being printed by Zambian companies include, posters, brochures, electoral regulations braille and sign language.

Meanwhile, ECZ Vice Chairperson Emily Sikazwe announced that the United Party for National Development (UPND) has sent another party representative Richard Njolomba who initially was supposed to have joined the team from the initial commencement of the monitoring of ballots in Dubai.

Dr Sikazwe however said the other representative, Linda Nkonde will now have to withdraw as the guidelines set out by ECZ is that only one representative is supposed to join the monitoring team.

She said the commission wishes to have other political parties witness the process of printing the ballot papers in Dubai.

The printing of ballot papers commenced on Monday July 5, 2021 by Al Ghurair Printing Company, which was awarded the US$3.6 million contract by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and is expected to have the materials printed by the end of July, 2021.

PF Vice National Chairperson Davis Chama(left) and ECZ Commissioner Ret.Major.Gen Vincent Mukanda check on printed ballot papers
PF Vice National Chairperson Davis Chama(left) and ECZ Commissioner Ret.Major.Gen Vincent Mukanda check on printed ballot papers

6 COMMENTS

  1. I believe in this team they sent this time. very honorable people. Honestly this is the most well organized and clean elections ever.
    Even Ba Davies Chama is a good man, even though he failed control PF thugs compared to Davies Mwila.
    I like Ba Edgar as a person, he knows that, but I don’t just know what he will do start 18th September. HH and Edgar should make history by creating position of Prime Minister for Ba Edgar. Then Edgar comes back as president in 2026.
    HH should just have this 1 term he is starting next month.

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  2. TO ME THAT LOOKS LIKE ONE OF THE GUPTA BROTHERS ???
    CONSPIRACY THEORISTS MAY SAY JACOB ZUMA IS BEHIND THIS
    WHO KNOWS IN THIS CONFUSED WORLD

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  3. OUR AFRICAN POLITICS DOESNT ALLOW FOR A PRIME MINISTER AS WE BELIEVE WINNER TAKES ALL
    ITS A ME ME ME ONLY
    LUNGU LIKE KK WILL NEVER EVER COME BACK

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  4. I can never understand how after all these years even under MMD we are still printing ballot papers abroad…why doesnt he list the companies in Zambia printing non security materials.

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  5. Nostradamus – You are again blogging whilst drinking your moonshine produced from under your kitchen sink. Go and sober up!!

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  6. The reason for printing these ballot papers abroad is because the opposition stopped thinking a long time ago. And have developed a defiant syndrome, a type of cancer that affects the brain to the extent that they reject everything done home and accept everything that comes from outside the borders of our country. It is a shame, it is not that we cannot print these ballot papers it is the under five mentality existing in the opposition. There are companies that could have easily printed these ballot papers locally and save the much needed forex for other things

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