Uproar over NEC plan to use soldiers in registration

Dar es Salaam. Opposition politicians are up in arms over a plan by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to assign soldiers to update the voter register ahead of the 2015 General Election.

Party officials promptly turned down the proposal that NEC gets Tanzania People Defence Force (TPDF) soldiers to update the voter register using the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system.

NEC Director of Elections Julius Malaba broke the news during a meeting to brief the parties on the registration preparations and other issues ahead of the April referendum for the proposed new constitution and the General Election later in October next year.

The electoral body did not give express reasons why it deemed it fit to deploy soldiers in each of the 200-plus districts and not the regular police.

NEC intends to station six soldiers in each district to help election officials register an estimated 23 million voters. But the plan was immediately shot down, with opposition leaders in attendance suspecting a sinister motive.

According to Mr Malaba, there will be four Information Communication Technology (ICT) experts in each region who will be assisted by the six soldiers.

“The four ICT experts--two from the BVR manufacturer and the other two from NEC--will be assisted by six soldiers in each district,” he added. “Their main task will be to repair the BVR kits if need be and deal with other logistics issues.”

But his remarks did not go down well with virtually all the politicians, who also complained about the time set for voter registration. According to Mr Malaba, registration will last seven days in each registration centre.

The polls body has delayed the exercise owing to a shortage of funds.

Chadema Secretary General and first runner-up in the 2010 General Election Willibrod Slaa wanted to know why NEC was planning to rope the military into a democracy issue.

He argued that involving the military in the exercise would only scare away voters who would have wanted to update their details in the voters’ registry.

“This is the first time since Tanzania attained its independence that the military is involved in such a democratic issue,” Dr Slaa added. “I don’t know the reasons behind this but I want to assure you we are against the proposal.”

Mr Johnson Mwangosi, the Sauti ya Umma (SAU) publicity secretary, said NEC’s plans were surprising plans since politicians had rejected that proposal all the way back to the first election after the country returned to multi-party politics.

If NEC chooses to go ahead with its plan, Mr Mwangosi said, the turn-out at registration centres will be very poor--especially given the fact that registration will take place for only a week, including working days.

“Many people, especially those living in rural areas, still bear the scars from Operesheni Tokomeza (Anti-poaching Operation),” Mr Mwangosi said.

“Do you now expect people to turn out in large numbers when you are using the same people who tortured and killed the people?”

CUF representative Shaweji Mketo shared the same sentiments and went further to query whether the proposals have anything to do with Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda’s infamous statement allowing the police and other security agents to beat people who refuse to obey orders.

“I was among the victim of soldiers’ wrath during the Mtwara gas conflict,” Mr Mketo went on, “so I know how many wananchi, especially in those areas, perceive soldiers.”

United Democratic Party (UDP) Secretary General Isaac Cheyo said the NEC proposals did not come as a surprise since they supposedly favour the ruling CCM--which he accuses of intimidation tactics to cling on power.

“I am not surprised at all because they have seen that the current intimidators, who include DCs (District Commissioners), DEDs (District Executive Director) and the police, are failing,” Mr Cheyo said. “That is why they decided to turn to the military.”

Responding to the concerns, NEC Vice-Chairman Hamid Mahmoud Hamid said the electoral body would reconsider the proposals.

NEC would not do anything against political parties, he added, as they are their main stakeholders.

According to Mr Malaba, the pilot project, which will be carried out in three districts--Kawe (Dar es Salaam), Kilombero will take place from 15 to 21 December.

Registration in all regions except Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Coast and Morogoro will run from 30 January to 28 February. Voters in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Coast and Zanzibar will be registered from 15 March to 4 April.

The four regions will be handled separately due to the population size. “The registration process will be conducted simultaneously in the four regions so we will need all the BVR kits from other regions,” said Mr Hamid.

The registration will be carried out in four phases in each district council to allow time for transporting BVR kits from one registration centre to another.

Thereafter, registration will take place for seven days in each centre. There are 40,000 registration centres countrywide and the register will be available for public scrutiny.

“We expect the entire exercise to be over by April 28,” said Mr Hamid. “I am sure we will have enough time to fine-tune the register if there are any complaints.”

According to the NEC deputy head of the ICT department, Dr Sisti Karia, 107 of 250 BVR kits for use at the pilot stage have been received.

The rest of the kits are expected before the end of the week. Eight thousand kits will be required countrywide and NEC has already trained field officers on the use of the kits.

According to Mr Hamid, NEC had to postpone the pilot twice in September and November after the government failed to release funds. More than 23 million voters are expected to register during the course of a month.