GEARS Initiative Zambia Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi has welcomed the launch of the phase one of the mobile issuance of the National Registration Cards in the targeted provinces namely Luapula, Northern, Eastern, Copperbelt and North-western provinces.
Mr Chipenzi says the exercise is coming at a time less than two months when the Electoral Commission of Zambia is also scheduled to commence the registration of voters on 18th October, 2020.
He has encouraged all Zambians of the age of 16 and above but without the document to exploit the opportunity availed to them to own one of the valuable assets in their lives.
“To this end, the law enforcement agencies and the traditional leadership must ensure that no foreigners are allowed to abuse this opportunity by them obtaining this national document for the purpose of elections or other uses”, said Mr Chipenzi.
He has called on all Zambians to remain extra vigilant especially along the border areas to ensure that no unqualified or undeserving characters obtain these documents at the expense of true Zambians.
“Therefore, if the target of 770, 000 people in phase one was to be attained, stakeholders such as the church, CSOs, media, the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Dept responsible, traditional leadership, political parties in the targeted provinces, must be involved in the provision of awareness programmes/activities and facilitating logistical support to easily access the services”, he said.
Mr Chipenzi has also called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure that COVID measures are adhered to during this exercise to avoid endangering the lives of the citizens and the staff and ensure that masks are given to individuals who may not have them free of charge.
“However, we implore the Ministry to be more transparent and accountable in this exercise to avoid negative innuendos and disclose to the nation how much each phase will cost the treasury esp that the yellow book currently only shows a paltry K50 million allocated for the entire exercise in the 10 provinces with 116 districts”, he added.
Mr Chipenzi said his Organisation supports the initiative of the phased approach and pray that citizens will take advantage of it as these services are now bought closer to them.
He has further alerted the citizens and guardians that the issuance of these documents are ongoing in all provinces at the district level and so they may also utilize those avenues while waiting for the mobile exercise, to obtain the NRCs documents.
Don’t only issue NRCs to your stronghold and we know that tactics.
But be careful this time around and even PF stronghold are eager for change.
PF must go!
Yes we are rolling!!! Roll them out roll them out. 2021 iyo
I need more information on this phased out approach. What criteria was used to select provinces for the mobile issuance of NRCs during phase 1 and others during phase 2? Why was it difficult to conduct the mobile issuance at the same time in all the provinces to ensure same timely access to NRCs to all provinces at the same time? Remember in case the mobile issuance works well, then the provinces in phase 2 will only have a month before the actual voter registration starts. Knowing that such mobile exercises could have hitches and risks, it would have been wise to start the mobile issuance of NRCs at the same time in all the provinces of Zambia. Can the responsible institutions explain the reasons for taking a phased approach as well as the criteria for choosing which provinces to be…
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Ngoma, good question. The people best suited to answer that is the ECZ. there is word limit apa pa website. If you write long things some don’t get posted. A tip is to press the back button and them copy the missing parts and then paste them and post
Kaizar Zulu, I thought the mandate to issue NRC falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs-Department of Registration. So why do you think the best suited to answer my question on (a) the criteria used to select provinces for mobile NRC issuance in phase 1 and 2 and (b) why it was not possible to start this mobile NRC issuance at the same time in the whole country falls under ECZ? Does the ECZ now have powers to issue instructions on how NRCs are to be issued in the country?
Ngoma your query is seeming to insinuate that the current process may disenfranchise certain areas in the country. On our side as government, we believe we have done everything as it should be. It then follows that the people best suited to look into your concerns are those mandated to ensure free and fair elections, namely the ECZ. after all if we looked into it you will say you have no confidence in us. So the independent ECZ are best to deal with it. Ifwe tuli best na process
Kaizar Zulu – everybody knows ECZ is just a cheap franchise of the ruling party. And thankfully NOBODY will fall in this trap. PF is dead as per next year, in the same way MMD has been left dead along the wayside since the last election. And YOU will be in jail. Plan your escape now!
Kaizar, is it wrong for me as a Zambian to demand equal opportunities to processes that provides people with their NRC? Yes NRCs are a requirement for one to register as a voter. By implication any areas which may be disadvantaged in timely obtaining their NRCs will be disadvantaged in terms of using their voting rights. While I fully understand that imwe you are happy with this process, I am not asking for any happy or unhappy political parties to respond. I am asking the government of my country responsible for issuing NRCs to explain why these decisions were made. Are you now the spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of National Registration?
Yes NRCs are a requirement for one to register as a voter. By implication any areas which may be disadvantaged in timely obtaining their NRCs will be disadvantaged in terms of using their voting rights. While I fully understand that imwe you are happy with this process, I am not asking for any happy or unhappy political parties to respond. I am asking the government of my country responsible for issuing NRCs to explain why these decisions were made. Are you now the spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of National Registration?
Ngoma I say go and liza your ngoma at the ministry of home affairs and department of national registration. Lusaka times wont look into your query. You can submit an FOI. Should that not be sufficient, raise it with ECZ. As for us we are satisfied due process has been followed. We hope you will vote pf in the next elections. Evidence is there for you to see that we have undertaken development in all corners. To the contrary the upnd and opposition have been sleeping and crying over bill 10
Kaizar, I dont need your advice where to go. I am just glad that after numerous reminders that ECZ has no mandate over issuance of NRCs in Zambia, you have finally yielded. Should there be problems with the mobile issuance of NRCs, affected provinces now know where to go and liza ngoma.