Slaa: We will sue UK ballot papers printer

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Feb 24, 2008
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Monday, 13 June 2011 23:35


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By Rosemary Mirondo The Citizen Correspondent
Dar es Salaam. The opposition Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) has initiated talks with the UK government over its intention to sue the company that was contracted to print ballot papers for last year's General Election.Chadema secretary general, Dr Willibrod Slaa, revealed this in Dar es Salaam yesterday at a meeting that brought together the National Electoral Commission (NEC), political parties and other stakeholders.
According to Dr Slaa, his party wants to sue the ballot papers printer on the grounds that the company had not performed its work in accordance with the contract. He claimed that Kalamazoo Company of the UK produced substandard result forms and ballot papers for the 2010 General Election.

According to Dr Slaa, Chadema was already having talks with the British government. "We have informed them of our intention to take Kalamazoo to court for producing forms that were substandard and not reliable or even secure for credible elections," he told the meeting. He explained that according to their investigation, results forms for presidential and parliamentary polls were, by this time, obliterated and hence, illegible.

He said this would render them useless, were a need to do a vote recount arise. He noted that the ballot papers and forms were supposed to be discernible for years to allow for verification in case there was a need to do so.
He queried whether it was proper for the company to be paid having failed to perform the work it was commissioned to do. According to Dr Slaa, the company was recognised globally for producing prints for government security, wondering whether it intentionally made substandard forms for Tanzania.

"The company should either inform Tanzanians why the forms are substandard or we'll take them to court, if only to show it to the world that it's not reliable," stressed Dr Slaa.

On another note, the Chadema supremo wanted the NEC to explain how it arrived at the figure of 20 million as the number of Tanzanians who had registered as voters for the October 31, 2010 polls.Elaborating, Dr Slaa pointed out that according to official statistics, 40 per cent of Tanzanians were youth under the age of 15 years, while children under five years are seven million.

On the basis, he argued, 51 per cent of the total population in the country should consist of people aged less than 18, therefore, ineligible to vote. "If that's the case, and the population of Tanzanians is put at around 40 million, how can we have 20 million people who have attained the voting age?" he asked.

Chadema rejected the presidential results last year on the grounds that the election was rigged, and asked NEC to annul the results and call a fresh poll that should be "supervised by credible organisations".
Dr Slaa, who was his party's presidential candidate, then addressed a press conference during which he accused security organs and the electoral commission of cooking up results in several areas of the country.But NEC chairman, retired Judge Lewis Makame, dismissed the accusations, saying they could not act on rumours since Chadema had not lodged an official complaint.

"If he has other data he should bring them to us and then we'll act on the issue," said Mr Makame. "Where is his data that show that what we're announcing is different from what has been gathered from the polling stations?" the retired judgehad posed.

"All the commission does is to verify the results before announcing them. I can't say anything more until we receive an official complaint from the party," he had noted.On the other hand, the National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman, Mr Emmanuel Makaidi, seconded Chadema allegations, saying the last year's General Election was not free and fair because there were many discrepancies.

Citing some of the alleged shortcomings, Mr Makaidi said yesterday many Tanzanians failed to vote because they failed to locate their names in the voter lists. He also said there was disqualification of candidates without due cause.
Responding to comments made by the politicians, the NEC director of elections, Mr Rajabu Kiravu, said many of the shortcomings would be addressed.

He noted that the important issue to rejoice now was the fact that the persistent call for the establishment of an independent electoral body was about to be answered."The government was in the process of enacting a law that will enable the formation of what people regard as an independent electoral organ," he said.

To make the new organ truly independent, Mr Kiravu said, among other things, NEC would have its own source of funding so as to make it financially independent."This will enable the commission to plan its activities without asking for the government capacity to finance its activities," he said.

For his part, NEC chairman, Judge Lewis Makame, said the 2010 General Election was faced with many challenges that included misconduct by some of the candidates.He also said low turnout was another challenge and the country should now think of how to resolve as it doesn't paint a good picture for a country determined to promote democracy like Tanzania.


Source: TheCitizen
 
Khe haka ka babu vipi tena si kaisha kuwa rais kivuli bado hataki? wenzake bado wamenuna na leo nusura wasweke rumande
 
CHADEMA hapo ndio penyewe kumkamata jumla mwizi wa uchaguzi wetu; mbele ya mahakama kila kitu kitawekwa kweupe na kilichojiri kwenye uchaguzi mkuu 2010 kuwekwa bayana.Ni vema pia ikajulikana hata jinsi kani hiyo tender ya uchapishaji ilivyotolewa kwanza na serikali yetu na washiriki wengine wao wanamaoni gani???????

Wizi wa uchaguzi chanzo chake haswaaa ndio hapo hapo.
 
we ni faiza au fisi? mbona unatumia mkia na makamasi kufikiri?acha kufikiri kwa kutumia makamasi, mkia na tumbo wewe tumia bongo. What is true is what works
 
This is well detailed wale wenye ubongo wa makamasi hawezi kuambulia kitu hapo, nadhani kutokana na hizo data pia nimeanza kuelewa kwanini watu wengi hamuelewi Dr. Slaa kumbe nchni yetu bado haija epukana na janga la ujinga maana katika hizo takwimu watu wazima hao less than 50% pia inasemekana only 4% yao ndio angalao wamefika elimu ya kidato cha nne!

Mambo aliyoonge Slaa hapo ni ya kisomi zaidi yanapaswa kujadiliwa na angalao mwenye Degree ya kwanza, siyo hawa wanaojaribu kupinga bila hata kujua kilichoongelewa nini!
 
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