Voter Registration Slow In Kitwe

The district commissioner for Kitwe, Chileshe Bweupe, has complained about the slow progress being made in the region’s voter registration exercise, echoing similar concerns from across the country.

Speaking to ZANIS yesterday, Mr Bweupe said the lack of pace would make it impossible for the district to register the targeted number of voters in time for the 12th December deadline.

“The Electoral Commission has to seriously look into this issue, at the rate we are going on, we will not meet the target goal and people may be disfranchised,” he said.

The district commissioner complained that the ECZ had not sent enough personnel to Kitwe, resulting in many voters waiting hours to get their polling cards.

Kanyama MP Elizabeth Phiri made a similar complaint earlier this week, saying that not enough registration officers had been deployed to capture the targeted 9 million voters nationally.

Justice Minister Given Lubinda has said the government is working on fixing ‘hitches’ in the registration process and has vowed not to register himself until the process is sorted.

Voter registration kicked off on Monday, with the ECZ promising to register roughly 272,727 Zambians per day. The tight window has been attacked by opposition leaders and civil society organisations alike, who have criticised the ECZ for scrapping the existing 2016 voter roll.