Ren-Form, the company printing the ballot papers for the January 20 presidential election, has so far printed about 3,700,000 ballot papers, reports Henry Himoonde in Johannesburg
This is out of the total of 5,390,050 ballot papers that the company is expected to print for all the 150 constituencies in the Zambia.
Ren-Form Chief Operations Officer, Albe Naude said although the printing should have been completed today, the entire process will still be completed within the project time.
Mr. Naude attributed the failure to complete the printing of ballot papers today to paper rolls that were not properly placed on the reels thereby causing challenges on the printing speed.
He said despite the challenge faced, the ballot papers will be ready for transportation to Zambia by the end of next week as planned.
“We experienced a problem after we found a defect with paper that was not properly placed on the reel which delayed the work because of paper jam, but we have slowed down the speed and everything is on track,” he explained.
He said the process would not be delayed because other processes such as stitching, guillotining, packaging and palliating were moving at a slower rate than printing.
Mr. Naude also assured different political parties and civil society observing the printing of ballot papers that the problem was a minor one and would not affect the quality of ballot papers.
Some observers had earlier expressed concern that the slowing down of the printing speed would delay the process.
And National Restoration Party (NAREP) national secretary Jevan Kamanga commended Ren-Form for the work it has done so far.
Mr. Kamanga said although political parties initially had concerns about the process, the company has so far done a commendable job.
“I just want to encourage the company for the good job that has been done so far. Yes we had concerns as political parties but I think so far the printer has done a very good job,” he said.
And a check at the palliating section this morning revealed that ballot papers for about 30 constituencies had been packed and were ready for dispatching.
According to the company’s work plan, all the ballot papers will be ready for dispatching by Wednesday next week.
Pls this is the only time Zambia has a chance to be under good leadership now what will happen if when upnd lose then its means western,southern,north western will all ways be ruled by those from the north and east please my fellow country member this is a very serious issue
Edgar Lungu (EL)’s camp is the thickest den of thieves, scumbags, liars, and corrupt crooks currently menacing the Zambian political arena. Like himself, all the people EL has surrounded himself with (the likes of Kambwili, Nsanda, etc), are just a pack of liars and thieving wolves with no moral fiber or integrity. This in itself speaks volume of EL’s character. Other than being good at hoodwinking violent lustrous PF cadres and blackmailing his fellow wolves and miscreants into job offerings if he wins, EL is not presidential material with no shred of bold leadership qualities to drive Zambia into economic prosperity. Voting for EL and his band of miscreants is tantamount to committing suicide, for te following among numerous reasons:
a) EL is a perpetual drunkard – Similar to his mentor, Zambia surely does not need another embarrassing laughingstock on the international fora. We surely don’t want a President who will miss the UN session on account of being drunk the previous night or appearing on the UN podium in a drunken state.
b) EL is a sickling – His healthy will be a costly liability to both himself and the GRZ budget. Do Zambians know how much Tax Payers’ money was spent on Sata’s medical bills while the country was retrogressing? EL & his family need to focus on nursing his healthy and going for beer-drinking therapy lessons.
c) EL has no vision – He is clueless and has no developmental agenda for Zambia other than the devious scheme to satisfy his band of miscreants and sponsors who want to safe guard their jobs and loot at all costs.
d) Like his mentor, EL is a pathological liar – He is an integral part of the mess Zambia is currently in. He is re-making fake promises while saying he intends to continue Sata’s vision and legacy. Every normal Zambian knows that Sata’s vision was enshrined on fake promises, lies, tribalism, nepotism, rascalism, corruption, etc.
e) EL is a weakling – He lacks independent thinking/judgments and has no authoritative command over his band of miscreants. They actually own and control him. Having such a President who owes a lot of favors to numerous scums, like Nsanda, will be a danger to mother Zambia.
f) EL has no independent professional achievements – Other than beer drinking, he has no tangible personal accomplishments or successes either as a lawyer, corporate worker, or business person. On the contrary, EL has a troubling history of swindling clients, inability to hold on to professional jobs, license seizures, etc. Assuming that such a person will bring economic prosperity to Zambia is day-dreaming and Zambians should desist from such day-mares.
g) EL is a thug & has kaponya mentality – EL is among the top brass of the PF party that has a very troubling history of violence and brutality. The recent cadre violence at the instigation of EL are a clear testimony of what awaits Zambia if EL is voted into State House.
h) EL is greedy and has blind loyalty – Normal Zambians should realize that the only reason Sata left EL the Presidential mantle to him is because of EL’s dependence syndrome and blind loyalty without question. It is not that he was the best, but actually the most foolish, greedy, and loyal one. Leave Kambwili as acting; he would have surely done his own things; probably even imposing a coup-detat on Sata himself. To save his own heinous skin, Sata had to delegate to EL whom he knew would loyally follow his orders. EL is greedy for accepting numerous senior and conflicting job portfolios just for the sake of milking numerous pay cheques, when he could have advised Sata otherwise. People, let us be serious, Defense & Justice ministry; isn’t there a conflict of interest somewhere here.
HH you time is coming. Eddy the drunk must pave way for you or else