Water Aid-Zambia has donated over K400,000 worth of Covid-19 prevention materials to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for use at polling stations during voting on August 12, 2021.
WaterAid Country Director Pamela Chisanga said hygiene is the first line of defense in the prevention of Covid-19 transmission.
Ms. Chisanga said during the handover of the materials in Lusaka today that the prevention of the spread of Covid-19 was especially critical during elections hence Water Aid-Zambia decided to support the ECZ this time around.
She said it was important that Zambians are kept safe as they vote adding that one of Water Aid’s focus areas was accessing polling stations to ensure preparedness in handling elections amid Covid-19 threats.
She further said Water Aid is open to providing any technical support to the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the citizens during and after elections so as to curb the further spread of Covid-19.
And receiving the donation, ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Kryticous Nshindano thanked WaterAid for the gesture saying Covid-19 has become huge financial burden to the commission.
Mr. Nshindano said the Covid-19 pandemic was not planned for in the election budget as it was not a factor at the time.
He explained that the donation will greatly help the commission in ensuring the safety of voters at all the 12,150 polling stations countrywide especially that there is a likelihood of a high turnout in this year’s polls.
“With the huge enthusiasm that we have observed from the public to turn up and I am quite confident that we will have a high turnout this time around and this will come in handy,” he said.
Mr. Nshindano has meanwhile assured the voters that in addition to the five golden rules, the ECZ has put in place additional measures including the use of voter identification devices to replace the old voter registers in order to quicken the process of identifying voters.
He has further disclosed that the commission will provide extra masks at polling stations for voters that will turn up without masks.
He has since appealed to all polling staff not to turn away any voter that that will go to a polling station without a mask.
“We will be providing masks for those that come unmasked. The commission will endeavor to ensure that every polling station has excess masks so that we give them and they should exercise their right to vote,” he said.
The donated Covid-19 prevention materials included 750 litres of surface disinfectants, 1,500 bottles of hand sanitizers, 1,800 bottles of hand wash liquid soap, 1,000 face shields, 500 face masks and 1,200 physical distancing stickers and hand washing posters.
