The Electoral Commission of Zambia has reveled that it has spent in excess K70million on the by 20 elections since the september 2011 general elections.
Speaking at a media luncheon hosted at Mulungushi international conference centre today ECZ deputy director elections Chomba Chella said the commission is spending K3.5 million per by election on average and that the country has had 20 by elections so far while 8 will be held once courts conclude with them.
Mr Chella added that money is not only spent on parliamentary by elections but the ward elections in various districts of the country.
Meanwhile the commission is process of undertaking a delimitation exercise in some parts of the country.
ECZ deputy director IT Brown Kasaro said the exercise has been necessitated by the creation of new districts, the need to reduce the distance covered by voters to polling stations as well as ensuring that polling stations are located at premises with adequate infrastructure which is suitable for elections.
Mr Kasaro explained that section 38 of the Electoral Act No 12 of 2006 outlines the factors for delimitation which includes availability of suitable venue for a polling station, the number and distribution of eligible, availability of transport, geographical or physical features that may impede its accessibility among other considerations.
He added that the consultations with stakeholders will start in July 2014 and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
He further explained that the new maps of electoral boundaries will only be effected in the 2016 general elections.
Delimitation is the process of drawing up voting areas for purposes of assigning voters to polling stations as well as drawing up ward or constituency boundaries for election of the district council or the national assembly respectively.
A Zambian is corrupt by virtue of DNA worse than Nigerians
So not surprised
Thanks
What a shame ! All this money could have been used to cushion the impact of the high cost of living on the poor as opposed to prop up Sata’s self preservation at the helm of power. Some of the projects initiated by mad man Sata could also have been fully funded to completion.
CHIKWANDA you are a reckless man. The blame is on you not Sata because he does not understand the dynamics of the economy like you do. You must do your job to advice the president not just getting paid and taking the blame for being a yes Bwana MOF.
Chikwanda, in one of my previous blogs I advised you that revocation of SI 33 and 55 is not enough for the Kwacha to stabilise. You need to tell Sata to also revoke the use of POA on political activities so kwacha can stabilise.
Abuse of POA is not good for…
I hope you have President Sata in mind
Is that includes salaries, allowances, fuels, and buying dish-washing soap for those plastic buckets? Sounds very cheap.
Maybe cheapest was Katuba, because its so close to Lusaka, need just 1 truck to distribute those election monitors.
I can’t believe I’m the first to comment on this thread. I want to thank the spirit of my late mother for standing by me to achieve this great feat. I also want to thank my siblings for their support on this endeavor. I also send my sincere appreciation to Airtel for making their network functional at the time I commented on this thread. And the biggest praise goes to almighty God for his protection and guidiance.
To the lusaka family I say shalom. It is never an easy thing to be FTC. Keep trying hard. You will surely get there.
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*drops mic* where is bana kalaba nalufya amaso
Hahahaha you were beaten by chi Mushota who spends her days with he fingers on the keyboard waiting to comment on each uploaded article and pretended she is working on a PHD.
Its scary to come back pa zed…..from outside things really look FK.ED up…
Just came back from Zambia in January, and trust me it is better than living illegally if your comment is anything to go by.
A noble person wouldn’t put question mark let alone spout essentially a load of tosh. Shame
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Zambia will be paying the cost of Satas ignorance and incompetence for many years to come, long after he is dead.
This man is really so illiterate and unintelligent he has no idea of the financial consequences of his actions on Zambia.
Very true and his disciples are as foolish.
nafuti nafuti
In the new proposed constitution there is a clause that prescribes a cost effective way of ensuring this waste of funds is arrested. Let’s have that document enacted as quickly as we can.
Almost $1 million dollars or even more per By Election
they are very expensive i did not know.i hope the constitution touched on this issue.if sum 1 resigns or dies let that one who came second get the seat than going 4 a costly bye election.
We need to avoid such elections, unnecessary cost on national coffers!
And there are more coming(By elections), and chances are slim for PF to win in Eastern Province.
We all now know, when u promise poor pipo of alleviating poverty its the opposite.How the hell do u spend such a colossal amount on induced by elections.U stand on the podium and start telling pipo lies.These political games shud came 2 an end.
Opposition should pay extra attention at ecz, the people running it, and processes used in an election. This is where rigging happens and they should be thinking about ways to seal off all loopholes.
These by elections are costly because we are printing ballot papers abroad. Let’s do it locally.
NUMBERS IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF ZAMBIA
Patriotic Front (PF) has 70 seats
Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) has 37 seats
United Party for National Development (UPND) has 31 seats
Independents (IND.) have 2 seats
Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has 1 seat
Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) has 1 seat
ELECTED are supposed to be 142
NOMINATED are supposed to be 8
Total 150
VACANT 8 – Kasenengwa, Malambo, Mkushi South, Mulobezi, Petauke, Solwezi Central, Vubwi and Zambezi West
Statistics from Mwebantu new media