Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda.
Announcing this at the weekend in London, Prime Minister Mizengo
Pinda said since the law requires all voters to be registered in the
permanent voters’ registrar, the government will be compelled to
purchase enough BVR kits for all its embassies so as to facilitate the
registration of the diasporas.
“I don’t see it possible this year, may be in the 2020 General
Elections. There is a combination of factors to consider, including the
review of the Election Act, 1985 and procurement of enough BVR kits,”
Pinda said when talking to Tanzanians living in the United Kingdom on
Saturday evening.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the residence of the Tanzanian
High Commissioner, Peter Kallaghe at Northern High Gate in London.
In February this year, however, Pinda told the National Assembly in
Dodoma that Tanzanians in diaspora are likely to have a chance to take
part – as voters – in this year’s General Elections.
Besides addressing the elections issue, Pinda also handed over more
than 40 copies of the proposed constitution, insisting them to read the
proposed Mother Law critically so that they could compare it with the
current Constitution of 1977.
“One of the challenges that we are facing concerning the new
Constitution is that some people do believe that it has nothing new … I
want you to read the entire document and give us your feedback because I
believe the proposed constitution has so many new components,” the
Premier said, while admitting that some of the sections were changed but
with good intentions.
Responding during the PM's Questions and Answers session in the
National Assembly early this year, Pinda announced that both the
National Electoral Commission (NEC) and Zanzibar Electoral Commission
(ZEC) have already started working on modalities to allow Tanzanian in
Diaspora to exercise their democratic right.
He however admitted that there are technical difficulties to the aspiration that need to be addressed.
When responding to a question raised by former Kigoma North MP
Zitto Kabwe earlier last year, Pinda affirmed that there were no plans
whatsoever to postpone the Constitution referendum that was slated for
end of this month.
He however insisted that the new Constitution would be in place while President Jakaya Kikwete is still in office.
Addressing Dodoma elders in November last year, President Kikwete
affirmed that the referendum date was set on April 30, 2015 and
announced that the campaign period was to commence on March 30 and end
on April 28, 2015.
Early this month, NEC announced to postpone indefinitely the referendum for the proposed constitution.
NEC Chairman, Judge (retired) Damian Lubuva, said the postponement
was due to the failure to complete updating the permanent voter
register.
The referendum voting was scheduled for April 30, this year after
the finalisation of updating voters’ details through the BVR system.
BVR registration started in Njombe Region in February, this year, when the Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda, launched the exercise.
Judge Lubuva said the government has paid USD72m for the purchase
of 8,000 BVR kits. The exercise was earlier planned to start in 2014,
but was delayed after the government failed to provide the electoral
body with the needed funding. NEC had received only 250 kits so far.
Late last year, NEC conducted the BVR in Katavi Region, Kilombero
as well as Kawe as a pilot study for which Justice Lubuva said, the
results from Kawe (Dar es Salaam), Kilombero (Morogoro) and Katavi
constituencies showed that the system was viable enough for the
referendum and the General Elections.
In Kawe constituency 15,123 out of 27,148 voters were registered in
Bunju ward, while 6,200 out of 8,278 were registered in Mbweni, NEC
said.
On the other hand, in Kilombero constituency 19,188 people from
Ifakara, Kakingiuka, Ipangala and Viwanja Sitini wards were registered
surpassing NEC’s 17, 790 projection.
In Katavi constituency, Ikuba, Usevya and Kibaoni wards 11,210 voters were registered while the expectation was 11, 394.
No comments:
Post a Comment