“The Commission urges all the authorities, including decision makers, the law enforcing organs and the related institutions to maintain justice with respect to fairness, transparency and indiscriminate treatment of the election stakeholders for the sake of human rights in whose violation will drain the country into unnecessary conflicts,” the Human Rights and Good Governance Commission (HRGGC) chairman, Bahame Tom Nyanduga said in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
“We would like to take this opportunity to warn and to denounce the use of dirty language, unwarranted registers and hate speeches that threaten peace and stability in the ongoing campaigns,” Nyanduga added, citing Article 2.2 of the 2015 Election Code of Conduct that requires leaders, candidates and campaigners to refrain from the use of improper language.Branding the exercise as an unconstitutional, Nyanduga said his commission had been a witness to quite a number of officers from the National Security organs, defence and police forces who were either registered members of political parties or obvious sympathizers of a given political party, alleging they were sources of the mayhem in the ongoing election campaign.
But in a separate incident, his fellow human rights advocates demanded apology from former President Benjamin Mkapa following his public name-calling remark of opposition as “stupid and loafer” in a CCM campaign inauguration rally at Jangwani grounds.
“We want honorable Benjamin Mkapa to apologise before all Tanzanians for his statement which could lead to a breach of peace in the country”, the Civil Society Consortium on Election Observation (TACEO) Chairman of Taceo, Dr Hellen Kijo Bisimba said yesterday in Dar es Salaam when addressing the media on the ongoing pre-election campaign that is notably marred with hostile registers, punitive remarks and unfair treatment of election players in only a week of its commencement.
She echoed Nyanduga’s concerns, accusing the police of aligning to CCM, apparently intimidating the opposition in a situation she believed would lead to social unrest if left unattended.
She said signs of unrest were rife as members of the public are at bitter loggerheads with each other and that foul and hate speeches among them were common, a scenario copied from their political role-models in higher echelons of power.
Dr Bisimba also detasted the police authorities for unfounded bans to wage campaigns imposed on opposition candidates under the pretext of potential violation of public order, as well as the Civil Aviation authority that also imposed restriction on the use of helicopters during campaigns.
The human rights crusader also did not leave the NEC’s stones unturned in her quest for justice in the political election world.
She accused NEC of conspiracy theory for misusing Biometric Voter System (BVR) and permanent voter register, alleging it has been systematically misinforming the innocent public at the detriment of their constitutional right of correct information.
She cited an example of Kibiti Ward, Coast Region where 624 people were registered but only 46 names appeared in the permanent voters’ registration following NEC’s scrutiny.
Quoting the same report, she said that in a constituency that holds the same name found all the 346 names axed from the permanent voters’ register that came back from NEC.
She cited the practice as common in other areas including Morogoro, Rukwa,Coast Region and Dar es Salaam.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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