ECZ adamant on Korean firm
By Tony Nkhoma
NOTHING will stop us from contracting Miru for the supply and delivery of next year’s voter registration kits ahead of the general elections, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has said.
Chief electoral officer Brown Kasaro said despite key stakeholders raising concerns in the procurement process, ECZ would proceed with awarding the contract to MIRU for the supply and delivery of electoral kits.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Lusaka, Kasaro said arbitration could not stop the commission from proceeding with any tender procedure.
“So, in terms of proceeding with the tender, I think the procurement law is clear that an application for arbitration does not stop an existing procurement process,” he said.
Kasaro insisted that stopping an existing procurement process was a separate process that would require a court of law to make an order.
“So, in this case, arbitration will be running parallel to the procurement process that the commission undertook and has since concluded,” he said.
Kasaro, however, said the reliability of the equipment from the tender requirements and specifications would be a critical item.
“… it’s not just showing on paper that they have done this work before, but they have to demonstrate that they have done this in an African country because of the similar environments that we work in. So far, 2,141 kits will be made available during the process, and the commission remains keen on delivering a free and fair election next year,” he said.
Kasaro said it was ECZ’s wish to ensure that during the manufacturing process, there would be quality assurance that was not just left in the hands of the contracted company, but the staff of the commission as well.
A Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z’s) investigation recently revealed Miru Systems Limited’s involvement in several problematic elections.
In 2018, it allegedly supplied BVR kits to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Reports from France24 and The Guardian indicate that the equipment was delivered six months late.
Nearly 45 per cent of the machines reportedly malfunctioned, a controversy that forced the South Korean government to publicly disown the company.
In 2024, Democracy Watch Philippines and The Philippine Star raised the alarm after mock elections using Miru’s technology encountered “fatal flaws”.
Various key stakeholders in Zambia have rejected the company’s explanations, pointing to unresolved security and reliability issues.
Meanwhile, ECZ has revised next year’s general elections road map with a nationwide mass registration targeting to add 3.5 million to the existing 7.07 million voters.
ECZ Chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said the commission signed a contract for voter registration kits and software on July 28 this year, allowing the exercise to proceed in a structured manner across all 156 constituencies instead of the earlier set dates of between May and July this year.
Zaloumis said the mass registration scheduled to run from October 13 to November 11 would cater for new registrations, replacements of lost or damaged voter cards and transfers, while holders of voter cards issued in 2020 and during the continuous registration would not be required to re-register.
She said the commission was targeting an estimated 3.5 million eligible registrants based on the latest Zambia Statistical Agency figures.
Zaloumis said ECZ had set April 30 next year for register certification and cut-off for eligibility.
She urged those who would be aged 18 years by that date to register during the mass exercise.
