Voter registration of inmates foolproof, state assures

JACKSON MAPAPAYIwrites@SunZambianHOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Masiye Banda has assured members of the public that the ongoing voter registration exercise in Correctional facilities is transparent.Mr Banda stated that mechanisms had been put in place to avoid illegalities during the exercise in correctional facilities.He said people should not be worried that voters’ cards will be issued to non-eligible inmates because foreign nationals in the facilities would not be issued with the voters cards as some sections of society were alleging.Mr Banda said each time a person was convicted and confined in the correctional facility, their details were taken for security sake.He was speaking when he called on his North-western province counterpart Willies Mangimela in Solwezi.Meanwhile, Mr Mangimela appealed to the ministry of Home Affairs to expedite the completion of the Police Divisional offices in Solwezi.He said the piece of infrastructure had taken long to be completed hence the need to expedite the process.Mr Mangimela said currently officers wrre faced with a challenge of office space forcing both the Division, District and Central offices to operate in place.He further appealed to the ministry to consider expanding and constructing more correctional facilities in the province as the current ones could not ac-commodate the rising number of inmates.