By JAMES KUNDA –

A SAMPLE census will be conducted by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) to determine how many people will be eligible to participate in the Referendum on the proposed Bill of Rights in August.
Vice-President Inonge Wina said the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), which has since been reconstituted as the Referendum Commission, was working closely with the CSO to ensure that the exercise was executed in due course.
Ms Wina said this in Parliament yesterday, through Deputy Minister in her office Bwalya Chungu, when responding to Kalabo Central United Party for National Development (UPND) Member of Parliament (MP) Chinga Miyutu.
Mr Miyutu wanted to know the progress made in the preparations to hold the Referendum simultaneously with the August 11 general elections.
“The Ministry of Justice has engaged ECZ on the modalities to hold the Referendum and CSO will determine the best method to sample the population.
“We have also engaged cooperating partners to help fund the hosting of the Referendum,” Ms Wina said.
And responding to a supplementary question by UPND Namwala MP Moono Lubezhi, Ms Wina said that the opposition party was seemingly jittery ahead of August 11 elections.
Ms Lubezhi had questioned the authenticity of subjecting the Bill of Rights to a Referendum.
“Mr Speaker, the Patriotic Front (PF) is a transparent party and that is why the Constitution Amendment Bill was brought to this House in its original form without manipulation.
“I sense some uneasiness on the other side, particularly the UPND which is gripped to the extent of coming up with false claims that the PF intends to rig elections,” she said.
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Davies Mwila told the House that reports of the Government imposing a state of emergency in Southern Province were false.
Mr Mwila said in a ministerial statement that the deployment of 83 police officers in Monze was a measure to maintain tranquility in the area, following the violence that engulfed Bweengwa Constituency a fortnight ago.
He issued the statement in response to a point of order raised by Monze UPND MP Jack Mwiimbu who sought clarity on the presence of the officers in the area.