Africa-Press – Zambia. Students who registered to vote from their institutions of higher learning have started arriving in various colleges and universities a few hours before the country heads to polls.
Copperbelt University Students’ Union (COBUSU) president, Laurence Kasonde confirmed to ZANIS in Lusaka that some students have started arriving from various parts of the country in readiness for voting tomorrow, August 12, 2021.
Mr. Kasonde explained that COBUSU, working in collaboration with the Zambia National Students Union (ZANASU), made arrangements for the transportation and accommodation among other essentials to assist students who stay far from their colleges and universities where they registered to vote from.
He disclosed that students that have arrived are being accommodated in boarding houses. “As a union, we did organize transport for students who registered to vote from the Copperbelt University but stayed in different towns,” Mr. Kasonde said.
At Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka, the students union is collaborating with student structures for various political parties who expressed interest in providing transport and accommodation for those travelling from other parts of the country.
Evelyn Hone College Students Union president Constantino Musumbi explained that the union is only assisting with the provision of information to identify the students who require transport and accommodation.
Mr. Musumbi said the union is very neutral in the whole process but only involved in helping students realize their right to participate in the electoral process.
“We are only helping student structures that belong to various political parties to discover some of the students in other towns and then link them to the groups that are providing transport and accommodation,” he said. He stressed the need for students to participate in the forthcoming elections hence encouraged eligible voters to take part.
Meanwhile, University of Zambia Acting Head of Communication and Marketing Damaseka Chibale said the school management received a request from school associations to accommodate about 600 students coming from outside Lusaka.
Mr. Chibale however said the university had to put into consideration the issue of Covid-19 that required further discussion before accommodating the students.
He disclosed that the matter was still under consultation with various stakeholders to see if there could be a possibility of students arriving at UNZA.
Hundreds of students registered as voters from their various institutions during the voter registration exercise. Unfortunately, universities and colleges are still closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
