The National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman, Judge (retired) Damian Lubuva
Speaking at a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, he said
with the importation of more biometric voter registration (BVR) kits he
was confident that the exercise will proceed smoothly.
He allayed fears of any more delays in the process, saying some of
the challenges encountered in the Njombe pilot project that ends today
have been sorted out.
The retired judge noted that it took the commission almost two
months to complete the exercise in Njombe due to small number of BVR
kits.
At the start of the exercise, he said there were only 250 kits but
the government bought some 248 kits and 1,600 more were scheduled to
arrive in the country from Dubai through a chartered plane.
The new kits will speed up the exercise in the second phase of
registration in Iringa, Lindi, Ruvuma and Mtwara regions. The exercise
will commence on 24th April this year.
On the same date, some 1,600 kits will arrive in the country and
will be used in Dodoma, Mbeya, Katavi and Rukwa regions in an exercise
that will be launched in 2nd May, this year. Thereafter some 1,152 more
kits to be used in Singida, Tabora, Kigoma and Kagera regions at a date
to be announced later will be imported.
He added that the plan is to ensure the remaining kits are brought
into the country as soon as possible and distributed to the respective
municipal councils where they will be circulated four times.
“ It was our plan that we got all the kits at once, the
registration process could take only 28 days in all the regions where
the kits have been distributed,” he said.
As of now, he said registration will go on simultaneously in at
least four regions as per the schedule, thus increasing the pace of the
exercise.
It was on this ground that the retired judge sent strong message to
all politicians to stop confusing the public, noting that their
utterances can stop some of their followers from taking part in the
registration exercise.
“Sometimes I wonder whether we need a speed governor or any other
way to control politicians when they speak to the public because what
they say can cause a lot of arm” he said.
He said those who say that there were plans to postpone the next
general elections were completely wrong, adding that Tanzania cannot
take such a dictatorial path.
The retired judge said section 5 of the constitution stipulates
that the life of parliament will always be five years after which the
country has to go to another general election and no president has
thought of changing that.
“I am shocked to hear politicians saying that there are plans to extend life of the fourth parliament!” he noted.
His remarks comes in just a day after the Chama cha Demokrasia na
Maendeleo (CHADEMA) chairman, Freeman Mbowe alleged that there were
plans to postpone the coming elections.
He warned that such a plan would cause problems in the country but
insisted that the slow pace of BVR registration was the evidence that
NEC would take such decision.
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