Be impartial, Kapiri voter educators warned

Voter Education Facilitators  engaged to carry out awareness in the Kapiri Mposhi constituency by-election have been implored to remain impartial and level-headed in their civic duty of imparting election information to the electorates.

Kapiri Mposhi District Voter Education Committee (DVEC), Chairperson Elizabeth Tapalo warned facilitators not to be influenced to campaign for political parties and candidates participating in the by-election but instead confine themselves  to their course content.

During a workshop for 28 Voter Education Facilitators at the Kapiri Mposhi District Council Chambers, Mrs. Tapalo threatened to withdraw and sternly deal with any facilitator that will be found to be compromised and operating against the objectives and values of which they are engaged by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).

Meanwhile, The ECZ has increased the number of voter educators from 14 to 28 to sensitize electorates on the importance of voting in the 23rd April Kapiri Mposhi by-election.

Two educators will now be engaged to conduct voter education in each ward in the district in the fourth coming by-elections.

And a senior citizen has commended the ECZ for increasing the number of voter educators to 28 in Kapiri Mposhi.

Emmanuel Himatanga of Nkole area in Kapiri Mposhi district said the number  will widen the coverage of the constituency by the ECZ in terms of voter information delivery to the electorates.

Mr. Himatanga who is also a former Civic leader for Luswishi Ward noted that the decision by ECZ will help in tackling voter apathy caused by inadequate information on voting that inhibit people to effectively participate in elections.

In a statement to ZANIS Mr. Himatanga urged the ECZ to further increase the number of voter education facilitators in future elections and to ensure that the process of voter education was a continuous one .

“Kapiri Mposhi is very vast the move by the ECZ to increase the number of educators is highly commendable… we just hope they will adopt continuous voter education in their program for future elections”, Mr. Himatanga said.

Three political parties are contesting the Mposhi parliamentary bye -elections set for April 23 this year.

The Ruling Patriotic Front (PF) nominated Eddie Musonda while opposition UNIP and UPND have floated Francis Mwape and Lawrence Zimba respectively.

The three candidates successfully filed in their nominations last week.

The Kapiri Mposhi by-election were necessitated by the Supreme Court’s nullification of the election of Lawrence Zimba (MMD) as area MP following a successful appeal by ruling PF losing candidate Eddie Musonda in the 2011 general elections.

The PF have re-adopted  Eddie Musonda to re-contest the seat, while the UPND has adopted former MP, Lawrence Zimba.