By Wesley Ngwenya
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) last week announced the commencement of voter registration on 21st June, 2010. This registration will be open to anyone who is eighteen years old or will turn eighteen before 31st July 2011. This registration will run for an initial period of ninety days.
Although the registration has come a little late ECZ should be commended especially for extending the registration to those who have not yet turned eighteen years old. Adverts are running in the media informing the public about this registration process. However, there are a few questions to consider as ECZ embarks on this task.
Firstly, how are voters in rural areas informed regarding this voter registration process considering that they have no access to newspapers, televisions and radios? Are there other medium that ECZ should consider so that they can reach this rural population?
[pullquote]What ECZ should have done is set up registration centers in all primary and secondary schools. They could also have used colleges, hospitals, rural health centers, post offices, markets and banks. This is where Zambians are found who are eighteen years and above. [/pullquote]
Why are they using mobile registration? The adverts are telling us to check the internet and see where their mobile vans will be at a particular time. Are you serious you expect us to get on a bus pay K7,000 round trip to town so we can go online to see where your van will be? Besides, what technology are you using to ensure that you can monitor the vans at all times?
Why did ECZ have to spend so much money using these ineffective vans? Was this the most efficient and effective method to reaching out to voters? Were the stakeholders consulted before it was decided on whether or not to use registration mobile vans? Could it be that this method was chosen because it was more porous and easier to get kickbacks?
What ECZ should have done is set up registration centers in all primary and secondary schools. They could also have used colleges, hospitals, rural health centers, post offices, markets and banks. This is where Zambians are found who are eighteen years and above. Setting up registration centers in these places would be much less expensive compared to the opted method. Besides, this would be more efficient and effective. I am willing to show and challenge ECZ that using mobile registration vans is more expensive than using permanent centers.
Mobile registration is certainly ideal for rural areas where schools and clinics are few and people are spread far apart. In addition, to permanent centers, mobile centers can be used too so as to better deliver the service to the Zambian public. But using mobile registration centers in Lusaka does not make sense at all when ECZ knows where people live, go to work, or go to school.
The Electoral Commission is asking for people who lost their voter’s card to provide a police report before registration. This is clearly a bad move on part of ECZ. How many Zambians will be able to afford to go through the tedious process of obtaining a police report, let alone pay K22,000 for it? Before writing this article, I sampled roughly about twenty people who lost their cards and none of them can afford to pay the required amount to obtain one. Maybe what they need to do is provide free police reports for all those who have lost their cards.
[pullquote]Zambians may not be interested in voting because they actually do not see the use. Yes, it is the constitutional right of every Zambian who is aged eighteen and above to vote. However, there are more pressing issues in the hearts and minds of many Zambians.[/pullquote]
The issue of registration hits home to me because in 2008 I was denied the opportunity to register as a voter simply because I was not in the country in 2006. Electoral Commission of Zambia failed to update voters’ registers so that people like me could equally have voted during the presidential elections. I have kept an eye in my neighborhood to see if I will ever see these vans but nothing yet.
It has been over a week since this registration supposedly started but I have not heard anyone who has registered yet. Will it be another week or another month before we see the registration vans? The chairperson for Electoral Commission of Zambia Florence Mumba, this weekend, blamed the politicians for the low turnout of prospective voters. Personally, I think what she should have said was ask the politicians to appeal to the Zambians to register to vote.
Zambians may not be interested in voting because they actually do not see the use. Yes, it is the constitutional right of every Zambian who is aged eighteen and above to vote. However, there are more pressing issues in the hearts and minds of many Zambians. There are poverty, diseases, and unemployment issues. Voting for people who look the same, speak the same language but are using different slogans is not one of them. As for me, I keep watching so that when that van passes my neighborhood I will register. I am eagerly waiting to cast my vote.
Please , only criticise if you have an alternative, if you dont stop bluffing
Take a chill pill blood, we are not as bitter as you describe. And we are going to vote, zivute zitani.
Guys 1, 2 learn to read before you make fools of your selves on the public forum. This article is about logistics and really makes sense to me. I think ECZ should have built on top of what they have than start this new high tech mobile registration requiring people to go on the INTERNET and find out where and when the mobile van will be in their area.
Also good news is that there is no charge for a police report if you lost your card or reg. Perhaps the author needs to refresh his browser on this point. It is no longer an issue. The rest of the points makes sense.
Where did this Anti MMD story come from?
Good analysis on the voting system.
# 3 walasa,this is a well articulated article=d>=d>=d>=d>
And if the Van passes my neighborhood while am away, what next? am I surpose to chasing it? ECZ should get serious, let them find permanent centers where we can find them at our convenient time.
I agree with the author, am in a rural area and i haven’t heard anything about this van and i wonder how many people in my area have access to internet a lot will miss out try other means. this is an important venture ECZ get serious
Some stupid people 1&2 always want to distort whatever is written. There is alot of sense to date i really dont know where to go. I was registered at Unza but i dont live there any more i need to change so?????
Va mavote vivensa ulesi mweee…>:p>:p%-(%-(**==**==:-@**==**==(:|(:|(:|
Problem is ‘Judgement Day’ always believes that every story or critic advising MMD is against! We haven’t even talked about people in the Diaspora! Even new South Africa allowed all the Diaspora to vote in the respective countries. All they MMD government needs to do to ensure transparency is to contract an independent Accounting firm Eg. Deloittes to verify at whichever embassy and send the votes to Zambian by courier, email, e-fax or even carry them- only their selves back to Zambia. There are more than 2m Zambian unregistered overseas residents and that is almost one tenth of the population. If that is not a big enough voice, then we shall remain always with a government of the minority like in 2008: MMD 40.09%, PF 38.13%; UPND 19.70%; HP 0.76%.
PF/UPND please close the deal this…
This is true. Bululus in chilenje wanted to register, did not know where to go…went round and round, community hall, library, clinic….lol! There is a place in kamwala but the gate is ever closed… lol!
i saw one of the vans driving at high speed going towards mataven.:d
Heeee…sure ECZ what are you thinking? Are you mad guys? I smell a big rat these guys dont want people to register so that they rigg elections. Why should people start chasing vans in order to register? People go for work and they plan when to register , now imagine the day when you say you will go and register, the van does not pass your shunt compound , so what do you do next? Fi ECZ this is madness guys, Bupuba ubu mwefibantu imwe, let permanent centers be created just as in the past.
AWE KWENA BLACK PEOPLE…..:o:o:o
I disagree with ECZ on mobile registration because no one will have acess to those numbers they will be claimed to be registered. ECZ and JUSTICE SAKALA are looking for other way to steal from zambians people. I praise the people of zambia for the patiece they have put up with these money suckers
:)>-
Registration of voters and issuance of NRCs should be a continuous process at their offices, with or without elections. We should stop this culture of making people panic, queueing up for everything, deadlines etc. What are their offices for, if not for this very purpose? Issuance of NRC should actually be done simultaneously with voter reg card. We are a poor nation and yet are the worst culprits at wasting time and resources on straight forward. KK was very effective when it came to NRCs and the like, not these political dimwits masquerading as part time presidents now.
If mobile registration is done will people equally vote in these vans or will they be given a location to cast their vote, and if so will their details be available at these polling stations? Is this mobile activity an electronic one and can we equally vote from anywhere within Zambia? Curious because this sounds really dodgy,,,,