Wandugu wapenzi, hebu someni makala hii iliyotoka leo katika gazeti la The African on Saturday. Hawa NEC kweli ni wakorofi.
Igunga: NEC's fake Voters' Register will produce fake results
BY HILAL K. SUED
If they are to be raised from their graves, ancient Athenians would be infuriated to discover that the result of their efforts in ensuring mankind are governed justly, by elected representatives of their own choice had come to naught.
Indeed, how could they have known that what they concocted eons ago was set to tease mankind forever with the striking contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements?
As our political leaders conduct political business, let us never forget that government means ourselves and not an alien power over us, as that ended half a century ago. The ultimate rulers of our democracy – if it is one at all – are not the President, MPs and government officials, but the voters of this country.
That, of course is what it ought to be – voters ruling over themselves, even though the correlation is always doused in deceit and hypocrisy. And the unlikelier place from where this happened is none other than the land that claims to be the world's greatest democracy – the US.
For it did not settle comfortably in George W. Bush – former US President' mind – when in 2003 he said he did not need approval from the UN to wage a war. If that's so it very well meant that he didn't need the approval of the American voters to become president, either. He only needed the 5-4 split decision of the Supreme Court to become one.
Let's leave GWB alone and concentrate on our own turf – our own version of democracy and the participation of the electorate – those listed in the NEC's so called Permanent Voters Register (PVR).
In fact there are more goings-on – or not going on – around and within that "permanent" register than what meets the eye. It appears the CCM government had caught opposition parties on wrong footing – or according to the popular Kiswahili slang – it struck them with a back heel goal (walipigwa bao la kisigino).
I will explain: When, before the 2005 elections opposition leaders shouted their heads off to have in place a Permanent Voters Register (PVR) it never dwelt upon their minds that they were in effect calling for "permanent theft register (PTR)." Now they do.
A permanent voter's register is nothing but a thieving concoction if its status remains permanent – that is without its being updatied – without incorporating new voters who every day attain the age of 18, and remove those deceased.
It's a continual process which the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has to undertake if it wants to brag of competence. That it doesn't. Even though they are not saying it, but it's to do with logistics, the money and manpower – all of which it has to plead for from the CCM government – itself a serious candidate in the country's electoral process.
For example, does "permanent" mean just that – permanent? It should, according to NEC, because on several occasions – Tunduru, Kiteto and Biharamulo – it conducted by-elections without updating its register that was compiled in 2005.
In the case of Tunduru a court case that was filed against NEC for doing so and which petitioned for the election to be stopped was dismissed on the first stages – it did not test the appeals court's opinion. And that was because the ruling came on a Friday with elections the following Sunday and therefore there was no time for preparations for appeal.
So it's the same old story for this weekend by-election in Igunga. Thousands of eligible voters will not take part in the by-election because the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has not updated the voters register. The register was last updated last year – months before the General elections.
Last week, in a briefing to reporters, the chairperson of Tanzania Civil Society Consortium on Election Observation (TACCEO) Martina Kabisama said failure to update the voters register will deny some Igunga residents their democratic right to elect their legislator.
So this means that the statistics for voters registered for last year's general election will be used in the Sunday by-election. It will be a fake voters' roll because it will list names of people who are deceased, and will miss out names of people who have attained the age of 18 in the last 12 months.
The roll will also carry the names of many eligible voters who will not vote for the reason that they lost their registration cards and were not availed the opportunity by NEC to be issued with replacements. So there will be no change on the number of voters or the number of polling stations – it's as if Igunga is still as it was twelve months ago. It's going to be a wonderful by-election whose results will therefore be fake results.
What is even more worse the election law is not clear on when the voters register should be updated as it only says "when it is seen necessary." So NEC did not see it necessary to update the Igunga Voters register, it does not matter to the electoral body to deny thousands of Tanzania eligible voters their democratic right under the Constitution.
There is a general acceptance, easily explained, that a huge voters turnout at elections does not sit well with the ruling party, whether at general elections or by elections. The percentage population of the country's fairly educated youth who are eligible voters (that is those between the age of 18 and 35) is estimated to be over 70%. Most of these, thrown into the streets from primary and secondary schools every year are futureless, except for one profession: street trading (umachinga).
So the less of these vote, the better for the ruling establishment. Last year's General elections had a worse voters' turnout in the country's post multiparty history – at 42 percent or 8 million of the 20 million plus registered voters according to NEC. It's believed of the 12 million who did not vote, 8 million were youths.
There were widespread reports of voters who did not see their names in the voters' rolls pasted only six days or so before voting day – very short a time to do anything, especially in the absence of clear-cut procedures from NEC on what to do.
Personally I went around various polling centres in Dar to view the list of names pinned up, which also listed the year of birth of each voter. I discovered that the nearest year of birth for many voters was 1988. Very few indeed were listed as having been born in 1989 or later (that is before 1992). That meant many of the 18-21 age group were missing. The reason could be that they were purposely deleted or, as many found out later, were posted at other polling stations.
In the by-elections of Mbeya rural and Busanda in 2009, the number of voters who turned up at polling stations did not even reach half the total number of the electorate registered in the respective constituency's voter registers.
More than 130,000 voters were registered in the NEC register in Busanda in the weeks running up to the by-election, but only about 55,000 voted.
In the Mbeya rural by-election in January 2009, only 44,855 of the 127,780 voters registered - or roughly 34 percent of registered voters - showed up at the polls.
And Busanda was the first time since plural democracy was ushered in the country when opposition leaders were awakened from their slumbers and questioned the habit whereby local functionaries of the ruling party conduct what is clearly an illegal exercise – that of registering voters.
The practice resurfaced in Igunga – one CCM Ten-Cell leader was last week caught conducting house to house visit in his area to register what he was convinced to be people who would vote for the party's candidate. He was doing this not by demanding/requesting the production of CCM membership cards which he was entitled to do -- but their voter's registration cards.
The reasons why these local CCM functionaries cannot get the details of their members from registers held by local party branches beats me – but could be because there are no such registers. These days strict card-paying membership hardly exists and this is true for both the ruling party and the opposition. There are only followers and/or supporters.
Voters' cards are a property of NEC, and by extension, the government, hence no party should have anything to do with them. I am not very certain whether or not collecting details of voters' cards by unauthorized people (i.e. non-NEC officials) is legal under the NEC or other laws.
Even if it is not illegal, it has elements of dishonesty, if not crookedness, as it amounts to discreet bullying and intimidation. It also provides avenue of outright illegal acts, hence giving credence to claims of card buying. All in all the perpetrators take advantage of the gullible and largely idiosyncratic rural population.