NEC to probe voter card seizure claims

NEC Chairman Damian Lubuva 

In Summary

NEC Chairman Damian Lubuva told The Citizen that the electoral body was following up the issue. He added: “We have no information on this matter, but I have heard of it from the media and I promise to follow up. This is not acceptable.”

By Henry Mwangonde

Dar es Salaam. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) is investigating reports that security agencies have ordered all their personnel to hand in their voter cards at their duty stations. The police and the army are also affected, according to reports circulating in social media.

NEC Chairman Damian Lubuva told The Citizen that the electoral body was following up the issue. He added: “We have no information on this matter, but I have heard of it from the media and I promise to follow up. This is not acceptable.”

He will meet heads of security agencies to establish what the order is about, he added, assuming the reports are true. Mr Lubuva called on those who had already registered to keep their cards safe since they are private and confidential.“I will follow up on this as we all don’t know the motive and it is totally out of order,” he said.

The Chadema acting secretary general, Mr Salum Mwalimu, told journalists yesterday that they are following up the issue too since it appears, he said, that there is an element of truth in the matter. According to Mr Mwalimu, the move by the security agencies is a plot to interfere with the October 25 General Election.

Initial reports suggested that the Coast regional police headquarters was part and parcel of the plot. But Coast Regional Police Commander Jaffary Mohammed said the reports were baseless and bore no truth. “Those are just political statements,” he added. “We have never issued such a statement and, as the police, we will never get involved in politics.”

A voter card is personal property and there is no way the police can issue such an order, Mr Mohammed said.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate for the Coalition of People’s Constitution (Ukawa), Mr Edward Lowassa, will tomorrow collect his nomination forms from the National Electoral Commission.

The Ukawa acting co-secretary, Mr Salum Mwalimu, told reporters at a press conference yesterday that Mr Lowassa’s tour will start at 9am at Civic United Front (CUF) offices in Buguruni, where he will pick nomination forms. He will be escorted by leaders of the Coalition, including supporters of the parties in Ukawa, which is a coalition of four political parties that include the National League for Democracy (NLD), Civic United Front (CUF), Chadema and NCCR-Mageuzi.

The former premier will then proceed to Chadema headquarters at Ufipa Street in Kinondoni and travel on to various regions in search of 200 guarantors.

Mr Mwalimu called on wellwishers to turn up in large numbers and escort Mr Lowassa on a journey that will supposedly lead him straight to State House. “We hope the police will help us maintain order because the journey to State House has just begun,” he said.

On Wednesday, the opposition presidential aspirant will attend the burial of veteran politician Peter Kisumo in Moshi.

The former PM and Monduli MP defected to the opposition a fortnight ago after he was locked out of the presidential nomination process by the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).

Deputy Minister Makongoro Mahanga and several CCM MPs are among those who have also defected to Chadema. Mr Lowassa said he was quitting the party that he has served for decades to join the opposition coalition and beat the ruling party in the October General Election.

The former PM announced his exit from CCM at a meeting attended by top leaders of the Coalition of four opposition parties under the Ukawa umbrella.

Mr Lowassa has been endorsed by 1.6 million Chadema members from 32 regions. The party’s deputy secretary general (Zanzibar), Mr Salum Mwalimu, said the signatories were just the initial capital that assures Mr Lowassa of massive support in the 25 October poll. In the 2010 General Election, Chadema candidate Willibrod Slaa got 2.2 million votes, working out to 26.34 percent of all votes.

The winner, President Jakaya Kikwete, got 5.2 million votes (61.7 percent).

Analysts have described this year’s General Election as one of the most unpredictable since independence due to the opposition’s decision to field a single candidate.

The seven parties that have collected forms so far are: United People’s Democratic Party (UPDP), Tanzania Labour Party (TLP), Democratic Party (DP) and Alliance for Democratic Change (ADC), Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Chama Cha Umma (CHAUMA) and the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT).

Filled in and signed forms should be returned before 21 August ahead of campaigns that kick off on 22 August.

Each presidential aspirant is required to present 200 guarantors from eight regions in Mainland Tanzania and two in Zanzibar.