NEC: Referendum might be postponed

PM insists schedule will not change

NEC Chairman, retired Justice Damian Lubuva

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) yesterday said because of the snail paced progress of the Biometric Voters Registration (BVR) in Njombe Region, there is a great possibility that the referendum on the proposed Constitution may be postponed.

However, countering the statement from the nation's capital Dodoma, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda yesterday insisted that the referendum date remains April 30 as scheduled.

Contradicting NEC's admission that the ongoing registration in Njombe Region is just too slow, the PM said ‘based on positive results in the updating of the voters' registry in Njombe Region, the government believes that the referendum can be held as scheduled.'

Nonetheless, the Prime Minister admitted that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) will be the one to advise the government the best way forward and it is also NEC that may propose a new date based on their assessment for the exercise.

Speaking to reporters yesterday on the ground in Njombe Region, NEC Chairman retired Justice Damian Lubuva, said there is ‘great possibility of postponing the referendum date so as to allow voters' registration to be completed.'

Lubuva said the voters' registry is one of the major steps that are crucial in the holding of the referendum of the proposed constitution.

"These things go in a logical order, if A is not completed B cannot be done. We cannot hold the referendum if the updating of the voters registry is incomplete," Justice Lubuva said. But he was hastened to add: "The date for referendum remains intact – April 30, 2015 - until we announce another date."

The Chairman said based on the pace of the exercise in Njombe Region, registration is expected to come to completion on April 15, this year.
Once registration is completed in Njombe Region, he said, the regions to follow will be announced.

According to the NEC boss, there are more BVR equipment that are coming and if added to the current 250 units, they will reach 8,000 in total.

However, he did not mention the date or month when the machines will arrive in the country or clarify whether the snail's pace of the exercise in Njombe – formerly in Iringa Region - was due to the small number of equipment available.

Justice Lubuva's assertions contradicted what President Jakaya Kikwete said on March 2, this year that he was impressed by the ongoing Biometric Voter Registry (BVR) in Makambako, Njombe Region.

During his traditional end of the month speech for February this year, President Kikwete said from February 23 to 25, this year, the National Electoral Committee (NEC) was expected to register at least 9,541 voters but it instead registered a total of 13,042 voters.

The President was speaking out on the matter that has in recent months raised political temperatures in the country with members of opposition parties, with general fears that NEC might even suspend the registration exercise.

On February 25, this year, opposition parties forming the Coalition of People's Constitution (Ukawa) appealed to the National Electoral Committee (NEC) to halt the ongoing registration of voters using BVR because of reported irregularities in Njombe Region.

Ukawa Chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba told journalists in Dar es Salaam then that the ongoing exercise in Njombe Region had shown errors including the possibility of one person to register in different voting stations.
"On behalf of Ukawa, I would like to call on NEC to suspend the exercise for improvement. Failure to do so may invite a political crisis," Lipumba said.

But in a nutshell, the President trashed all such claims and supported the exercise during his end of the month speech.

President Kikwete said there were all reasons to applaud NEC for the efforts that give hope to the whole process.

"This clears the fears by some people that the exercise could not be successful. What we want from the commission is to see the exercise proceeding and comes to completion as expected," the President said.
The President said as per his promise, he will make sure he does everything to help NEC to have the financial support to ensure that the exercise meets the expected target.

He added that he had already reminded the treasury on the importance of NEC in accomplishing the exercise as planned and that they should give it priority in the budget so as to make it a successfully exercise.

He called upon the political parties, religious and all non-governmental institutions to collaborate with the government and NEC in reminding and motivating the entire citizenry to register.


Source: The Guardian

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People are hesitant to speak the truth. ...it is not possible for the NEC to hold the referendum on April.

It is impossible to have the referendum done in April. Voters registration has stalled completely