The admission was made yesterday before the National Assembly by
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda as he adjourned the 10th Parliamentary
session.
The development came in the wake of yesterday morning’s fracas that saw the House debates suspended unceremoniously.
The commotion came about as opposition Members of Parliament demanded government’s statement over the BVRs and referendum date.
Pinda said that the NEC will provide official information about the
status of the BVR and give a new date for referendum on the proposed
Constitution.
“Our expectation is that the registration will continue in other
regions,” he said pointing out that the government has already dished
out funds for the purchase of some 8000 BVR kits to NEC.
The PM said that while they are waiting for NEC to release the new
schedule, the government will continue distributing copies of the
proposed Constitution.
According to Pinda, a total number of 346,000 have already been distributed in various institutions in Mainland and Zanzibar
PM said in this 10th parliamentary session, the government planned
to table 21 bills including the Islamic Law (Restatement) Act No 2/2014
on Kadhi Courts but due to the limited time, they have only managed to
table15 bills.
Pinda said the Islamic Law is among the bills which were not tabled
but he said that the government will use the opportunity to involve
more stakeholders to expand their knowledge on the matter.
The next parliament session will commence May 12 this year.
Earlier during the morning session, commotion, coupled with
uncalled for pandemonium in the National Assembly that was triggered by
opposition lawmakers’ bid to compel the Speaker, Anne Makinda, to accept
a private motion on the current state of Biometric Voter Registration
(BVR) ended the morning session yesterday in a bizarre way without
observing procedures.
Suspending House discussion in an unceremonious way, Speaker
Makinda neither sought assistance from the Head of Government Business
in the House nor specified when the House would have come back to
business as is usually the case.
However, in the evening, the House convened back to business and discussion on other matters ensued.
It all started with a motion moved by Ubungo Member of Parliament
John Mnyika (Chadema), who asked for a firm statement from the
government on the state of the ongoing voter registration exercise,
using the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) method.
The MPs noted that the exercise has been facing a lot of huddles
since it was introduced in Njombe Region over a month ago where it has
not come to completion.
They said the exercise has proved futile, and the government has to
come up with a statement to explain whether it would be implemented
countrywide as promised or not.
Speaking after the morning Questions and Answers session, Ubungo
lawmaker John Mnyika said there was an urgent need for the National
Assembly to suspend the business it had scheduled for debate in order to
discuss the stagnating exercise.
“Honourable Madame Speaker, I need your guidance as to why we
should not stop this scheduled session and start to discuss more
pressing issues that are facing our nation. There are fears that people
are not going to be registered under the BVR and the General Election
might not be held,” he enquired.
Mnyika said registering all the voter was impossible due to time
factor and that the exercise in Njombe Region alone was shrouded with
many huddles.
“I earnestly ask the government -- the Prime Minister is here—He
should give a statement on the issue or else we are not going to back
down,” the MP, who was standing, said as he was joined by other
opposition lawmakers in a move that led to chaos.
In wahat had turned to be an animated exchange between the Speaker
most of the standing opposition MPs, Makinda asked them to be patient
promising that each and everything would be explained by the Prime
Minister when adjourning the Parliament session later in evening.
“I request honourable MPs to sit down, the Prime Minister will give
an elaborate explanation on this issue today. Let us continue with
business,” she promised.
Despite the promissory note, most MPs from the opposition however
stood firm and started shouting as they called on the government to
issue the statement.
“We are tired of being taken for granted by the government. Why
don’t you issue the statement regarding this issue which is of crucial
importance to the nation?” they shouted.
The Speaker tried to convince them to sit down but her efforts
proved futile, and at around 10.55am, she decided to adjourn the House
session unceremoniously.
Speaking outside Parliament, the Bariadi East Member of Parliament,
John Cheyo (UDP) said the government should not intervene with anything
relating to elections.
“We have the National Electoral Commission (NEC) which is mandated
to carry out voter registration activities, elections or/and announce
referendum date,” he said.
During a visit to China recently, President Jakaya Kikwete
announced that the referendum on the new Constitution would be April 30,
this year.
However there are a number of crucial steps that ought to be taken
before the referendum is held. They include provision of education on
the proposed Constitution to the voters and the registration of the same
under the BVR.
According to Cheyo, who is also chairman of Tanzania Centre for
Democracy (TCD), the government overstepped and intervened in the duties
that were supposed to be carried out by the NEC chairman in making such
announcements.
He explained that NEC chairman is the only person mandated to
announce the referendum date since it is monitored and supervised by his
office.
“The statement shocked us since the time is too short to complete
the BVR exercise. On top of that there will be no time to verify the
voter’s registry. We urge the NEC chairman to explain in detail to
stakeholders how the exercise can be successfully accomplished,” he
said.
According to him, the law stresses that there should be timeframe
for the voters and other stakeholders to review and verify the BVR.
The MP asked NEC to halt the exercise so as to get enough time for reviews and verification so as to avoid errors and confusion.
For his part, James Mbatia (NCCR, Nominated) said it would be
miraculous for NEC to register all eligible Tanzanians using the few
equipment it has.
He said that since one machine can serve only 55 people per day, it
is not easy to register more than 24 million voters on time.
Mbatia said, up to the moment Tanzania has only 250 kits while the required number is 15,000 units.
Before the House was unprocedurally adjourned in the morning, four bills were scheduled to be read for the first time.
They are the Access to Information Bill 2015, the Media Services
Bill 2015, the Fair Competition (amendment) Bill 2015 and the Teachers
Service Commission Bill 2015.
On January 15, this year leaders of Ukawa declared in Dar es Salaam
that their members would not participate in the referendum slated for
end of April, this year.
Last week, NEC Chairman retired Justice Damian Lubuva, said there
was a ‘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 work 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 hastened to
add: “The date for the referendum remains intact – April 30, 2015 -
until when 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 were
scheduled to come and if added to the current 250 units, they would
reach 8,000 in total.
However, he did not mention the date or month when the machines
would 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.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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