Tanzania electoral body spends more on by-elections than it did in last general elections

What you need to know:

The National Electoral Commission spent Sh4.1 billion on each constituency by-election – far more that the Sh991 million it spent on each constituency in the 2015 general elections

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania spent more money on the last three parliamentary by-elections – four times more than what it spent on the 2015 general elections, constituency for constituency.

A report on the diversion of funds for the 2018/19 financial year indicates that the national Treasury diverted the allocation of Sh12.4 billion to finance by-elections in the Ukonga, Monduli and Korogwe-Rural constituencies which were held on September 6, 2018.

This works out at more than Sh4.1 billion for the by-election in each constituency – a sum which is far more than the Sh991 million spent on each of the constituencies in the 2015 presidential, parliamentary and council elections!

During the 2015 general elections, the government released some Sh261.6 billion for the polling in 264 parliamentary constituencies: an average of Sh991 million for each constituency.

The head of the Communications Department at the Finance and Planning ministry, Benny Mwaipaja, confirmed the funds diversion to Mwananchi yesterday – but declined to shed more light on the matter.

“It is true the money was diverted; but whether or not the money was spent as planned is a matter which only NEC can explain,” Mr Mwaipaja said.

He added that the government releases money based on the needs of a respective institution which would subsequently have to account for it.

In similar vein, the NEC chairman, Mr Semistocles Kaijage, also declined to comment on the matter when contacted yesterday, suggesting that the Commission’s director, Athumani Kihamia, is in a better position to comment on it.

Even then, Mr Kihamia was unable, unwilling or unready to comment on the spot.

“I’m in a meeting; send me a text message,” he retorted when contacted. But, when he was texted as he requested, Mr Kihamia didn’t respond either.

It is not quite clear why the National Electoral Commission needed more money, thereby forcing the Treasury to divert funds to it from elsewhere. NEC already had in place the requisite polling equipment that was used in the 2015 general elections, and the need for such huge sums of taxpayer money leaves some observers awestruck.

What makes analysts more puzzled is the fact that no actual polling was held for the Korogwe-Rural constituency where the ruling CCM candidate was unopposed.

In the event, the Momba MP (Chadema), David Silinde, sees this as “a waste of resources; outright misuse of public resources… the consequences of voraciousness and selfish MPs who swopped parties.”

But the by-election candidate for the Ukerewe parliamentary constituency, Joseph Mkundi – who had defected from the opposition Chadema to CCM – described the costs as “normal in meeting constitutional requirements.” 

According to him, the cost was unavoidable as the price for democracy.