By CHILA NAMAIKO –

THE Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) says it has recorded numerous cases of candidates aspiring for political office being found with forged Grade 12 school certificates.
This follows, among other key requirements by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), that aspiring candidates for the August 11 general elections must have a full grade 12 certificate inclusive of English.
The institution had since been reporting such cases of forgery to police after identifying owners of the documents.
Scores of people aspiring to contest the August 11 general elections are verifying their grade 12 certificates at the ECZ in Lusaka.
ECZ director Michael Chilala said yesterday that officers were identifying numerous cases of forged certificates from some people during the verification exercise at the service centre in Lusaka.
Dr Chilala said in an interview at his office that the institution was, however, reporting such cases to the police for onward prosecution of the culprits.
“We have been able to identify some forged documents like grade 12 certificates at our service centre during the verification process and such cases are reported to police,” Dr Chilala said.
He said once such cases of forgery were taken to the courts of law, the institution would only be called upon as a witness.
A check at the ECZ service centre yesterday around mid-morning found scores of people busy verifying their grade 12 certificates.
Meanwhile, Dr Chilala has clarified that ECZ did not determine people who should stand on which political party following the verification exercise of the grade 12 certificates.
He said the institution was only engaged by the Electoral Commission of Zambia to help in the verification of the certificates since it was mandated by law to issue such documents.
Dr Chilala was, however, happy that the verification exercise was going on smoothly with overwhelming response from members of the public.
Some parliamentarians have been helping their members in verifying the certificates, thereby making the process running smoothly.
ECZ will soon also launch its 2016-2020 strategic plan which has already been approved by the council.
Dr Chilala said the document would, among other key areas, provide access for people to conduct online verification of certificates.
This will in turn reduce congestion at the ECZ service centre in Lusaka as people will verify documents through an online system.
On decentralisation of ECZ service centres, Dr Chilala said the institution would soon open a centre in Kitwe to cater for Northern, Luapula and North-Western provinces.