Dear Editor,
I write to urge Electoral Commission of Zambia to know that their mandate is to safeguard the political dispensation of all Zambians without a blink of showing any political bias.
It is so sad that electoral commission of Zambia has been found wanting in most elections from most stakeholders and to me that means that ECZ has a lot to do to win people’s confidence.
And now ECZ has just launched the online voter registration intended to capture up to 9 million voters in just one month, without much explanation given to the would be 2021 voters.
All we are told is that the current voter cards we have that we used in the 2016 general election will be deemed invalid in 2021 general election, meaning nobody currently is a registered voter. And you want to register such a number in just a month? What is wrong with your thinking?
What are the new features on the new voter card that is not the old card? Why not just ask those with old cards to verify the details only and only allow new would be voters to register instead?
So what happens to the data sitting on the ECZ server of the current voter register we used in 2016? Can we trust you with that data while wanting to get more from us without duplication? Why give us so much work that you are paid to do?
The lack of sensitisation and engagement of all stakeholders in these electoral matters is what brings a lot of suspicion from not only political parties but us the citizen.
Electoral management is a national issue and not a political issue only and the earlier ECZ realises that the better for us all, not where ECZ is seen to think it is a political issue.
That is why even policing of elections have shown a lot of incompetence and mismanagement by the organisation because they have priotised political parties’ interests instead of the general citizen.
ECZ I know you have the capacity to do things correctly for the benefit of us Zambians and not a political party.
Wisdom Muyunda
Chingola
