Calls made for redress on allegation of missing names
“There has been a lot of confusion, panic and even conflict because a lot of names are missing as revealed in NEC’s verification exercise,” decried Prof Mwesigwa Baregu, a lecturer in Political Science at St Augustine University.
Speaking at a dialogue event aired nationwide on ITV yesterday in Dar es Salaam, he said NEC should quickly resolve the problem.
He warned that failure to do so, “a majority of people will be left out when voting starts even though they have their voters’ cards.”
He said a lot of people have been complaining over the matter but no satisfactory answer has been fielded by the authorities and as such, he stressed that there is an urgent need for NEC to work on the matter as quickly as possible.
Prof Baregu urged NEC to look at the situation careful for the sake of protecting democracy in the country.“Efforts must be done to fight corruption within the political parties during the election period,” he went on to urge.
He said a lot of money is been used to corrupt people to vote in favour of a particular party; “we should not feel ashamed when it comes to fighting corruption as it kills democracy in the country,” he said.
Without specifying any particular incidents, he applauded the police for performing their duties calling them to keep up with
the same spirit as the country heading to the October 25, General Election.
In his contribution, former Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) member, Humphrey Polepole heaped blames on political leaders for prioritising their personal interests during the constitution review process.
“They tried a lot to obstruct the commission from coming up with a better constitution for the sake of the people,” he alleged without specifying any names.
“People are in need of transformation,” he said demanding patriotism from all political leaders regardless of party affiliations.
For his part, Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation chairman, Joseph Butiku said the foundation served as the last dialogue that the foundation will hold to allow the public time to prepare for the general election.
“Tanzanians should use the October 25 election to exercise their rights and vote for a leader they think meets the qualifications to lead them,” he emphasised.
In a related development, NEC said yesterday via a media statement that due to glitches in software and processing systems, it has been forced to extend the verification exercise in Dar es Salaam Region.
The signed statement by Director of Elections, Kailima Kombwey said the exercise was supposed to take place from August 15 to 19 but; “due to the glitches, the exercise will be conducted from August 18 to 22 for Dar es Salaam residents.”
“We would also take this opportunity to call upon the public to turn out in large numbers to verify their names,” he said.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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