Zambia to print own ballot papers for future elections

According to an AFP report, less than three weeks after taking office, workers are holding him to it with wildcat strikes across the country.
Barely a day passes without reports of work stoppages or sit-ins to press for improved labour conditions, from mines to factories to dock workers, at firms both local and foreign, in cities and towns scattered across the country. President Sata has ordered the labour ministry to revise the minimum wage, set at US$84 a month.
He has also ordered foreign companies to abide by labour laws, which workers claim are often circumvented or simply ignored.
Meanwhile, president Sata has said that Zambia will print its own ballot papers for future elections.
He said that the November 24 Magoye and Nakonde parliamentary by-elections will be the last to be conducted on foreign-printed ballots.
President Sata said Zambia cannot continue to print ballot papers in other countries after 47 years of independence.
“If it means spending all the coffers to bring in equipment, we will do it. We will print ballot papers here,” Mr Sata said.
He said this while attending a post-election thanksgiving prayer service organised by the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
The Zambian government has also pledged to cut over-dependence on donor funding by stimulating economic growth through a broadened revenue collection system to stem the effects of the current downward trend in commodity prices internationally.
Speaking to the donor community in Lusaka, Minister of Finance and National Planning Alexandar Chikwanda said the PF Government had seen a compelling need to reduce external subvention by maximising the use of local resources.
The heads of the European Union (EU), World Bank, Norway, DFID and the Finish and German embassies paid a courtesy call on Mr Chikwanda to understand the Patriotic Front (PF) government’s vision and share information on the roadmap for economic growth. – Zambia Daily Mail/Times of Zambia/The Herald.