Conduct peaceful, issue-based campaigns – AVAP
By Staff Reporter
The Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) in Eastern Province has appealed to all political parties to conduct issue based campaigns ahead of the July 26 local government elections in the five created new districts in the province.
Speaking during a walk in interview at ZANIS offices in Chipata yesterday, Provincial coordinator Maumba Ngoma said there is need for political parties to conduct peaceful campaigns so as to avoid voter apathy on the polling day.
Ngoma said voter apathy in most cases is caused by violence and insults among political players.
“There is need for people in the newly created districts to turn out in large numbers and vote for their preferred candidates because new districts require a lot of development.am appealing to the Police in the province to apply the public order act equally and fairly so that all parties campaign freely,” said Ngoma.
Ngoma has also asked Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to immediately withdraw voter education facilitators in Chipangali and Kasenengwa districts that were picked by the Chipata District Voter Education Committee (DVEC).
“The facilitators were not picked on merit as most of them are relatives of members of DVEC, there is need to call and asses all the facilitators that were trained in 2016 so that they are picked on merit because some of them are not even familiar with the wards they have been deployed to,” he said
“The ECZ should immediately institute investigations in the matter because voter education in the two districts might be comprised because the right procedure was not followed when appointing facilitators,” said Ngoma.
And when contacted for a comment, Chipata City Council Acting Town Clerk Yasini Mulimba said the local authority was not involved in the selection of voter education facilitators because there are already council secretaries who are working in both districts.
Efforts to get a comment from the two council secretaries proved futile by news time.
