Elections 2010 Maoni ya Tendwa Kuhusu Uchaguzi
Low voter turnout attributed to lack of civic education
By The guardian reporter
15th December 2010
The Registrar of Political Parties, John Tendwa
The Registrar of Political Parties, John Tendwa, has said that the low turnout during the October election was contributed to by lack of civic education among women and youths.
Tendwa made the remarks in Dar es Salaam recently at a ceremony to award students who won in an essay competition on the advantages and disadvantages of voting.
He said out of over 20 million people registered for voting, only 8 million turned out on the election day.
Tendwa said mostly youths and women did not go out to vote this time round because they lacked civic education to understand the importance of participating in voting.
Most youths and women registered simply to obtain identity cards so that they could use them for other purposes rather then voting. This has been due to lack of civic education which was needed to be given earlier to the people, Tendwa said.
He said as there were currently many political parties, people got confused as for which party they should vote, but this could be more clarified if civic education was given earlier.
The essay competition was organized by the Tanzania Centre for Democracy to help students understand election-related issues and also challenge the government to work on election shortfalls.
Lucy Lubuva, a student from Azimio secondary school in Dodoma Region, was among the winners.
As youths, we need to bring challenges in our county through showing emotion to the government and leaders without fearing any one or anything, we will make things to go well in our country, she said.
Isack Frenk Changoma, a student from St. Denis secondary school in Morogoro Region, said the competition was good because it make the students to be aware of different things and what was going on in the world and the country.
Huyu jamaa ameongea jambo moja zuri kuhusu katiba mpya. Ila melezo yake kuhusiana na lowa turnout si ya ukweli unless aseme kuwa wanachi wa leo ni mbumbu kuliko wa miaka iliyopita, in which case atakuwa ana-imply kuwa uongozi wa sasa umewapumbaza sana raia kiasi cha kutokufahamua hata umuhimu wa kupiga kura. Tangu nchi hii inapata uhuru, haijawahi kuwa na low turnout, na wakati huo ndipo tulikuwa na umma wa wasiokuwa na elimu yoyote. Leo hii kila kijana anapata elimu ya msingi, na hiyo ingemwezesha kabisa kujua umuhimu wa kupiga kura. Sehemu zote ambazo CHADEMA imeshinda, ni kwa sababu vijana walilirinda kura kwa karibu sana. Imani yangu ni kuwa pamoja na vitisho vilivyotolewa na vyombo vya usalama siku chache kabla ya uchaguzi, na njia makusudi zilizofanywa na Tume kuvuruga daftari la wapiga kura ili vijana wasipige kura, bado kuna kura nyingi sana zilizopigwa, ila tume haikuzitangaza zote kusudi ionekane kuwa wanapenzi wa CCM pamoja na uchache wao, walipga kura za kuipa CCM ushindi wakati wale wapenzi wa vyama vya upinzani pamoja na wingi wao hawakupiga kura za kutosha kuvipa vyama vyao ushindi.
Ni afadhali jamaa hawa wasiongelee tena swala la upigaji kura wa Oktoba 2010 kwa vile wote walishirikiana kuhakikisha CCM inashinda kwa njia yoyote hata bila kupigiwa kura