Govt urged to help in raising public awareness on proposed Constitution.

Residents  of Liwale district have called upon the government to collaborate with civil society organisations there to provide civic education on the proposed Constitution before the new date for referendum is announced.

 

The residents made the call here   on Wednesday during a public rally organised by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) team to educate the public on the proposed constitution.

 

One of the villagers of Liwale B   village Musa Mtenga said the public should be given civic education before voting for or against the proposed Constitution so that they can make informed decision.

 

Mtenga said that the entire process of obtaining the new Constitution needs involvement of citizenry.

 

Coordinator of the LHRC team Hoseah Peter said the Centre intends to provide civic education to the public so that they can understand what is contained in the proposed Constitution and what needs to be improved so that they can make informed decisions in the referendum.

 

Earlier, Lindi Regional Commissioner Mwantumu Mahiza said it is the duty of LHRC to educate the public and clear doubts on the proposed Constitution.

 

Early this month the National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced postponement of the referendum on the proposed new constitution which had earlier been scheduled for April 30. 

 

The referendum will now be held on a date yet to be announced by NEC upon completion of voters registration.

 

 Voters’ registration using the so-called Biometric Voter Register (BVR) was supposed to have been completed in time for the referendum on April 30, however, it was realised that the registration would take much longer than anticipated considering that it has taken almost two months to register voters in Njombe alone, the pilot region.