He said many people had been fearing that BVR might disrupt the General Election, but the government would do everything possible to make sure that the technology helps to make the voter registration as efficient as intended.
Dodoma. The government has allayed fears among wananchi on the biometric voter registration (BVR) technology, saying it will only be used to register voters.It has said the technology will not be used during voting or tallying of votes.
The assurance was given here on Thursday by the permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr Florens Turuka.
He said many people had been fearing that BVR might disrupt the General Election, but the government would do everything possible to make sure that the technology helps to make the voter registration as efficient as intended.
The National Electoral Commission, which has introduced the new technology, has said registration of voters using BVR would start mid next month and is expected to be completed before the referendum is held for the proposed constitution on April 30 this year.
“We will use this technology to only register voters. Some people are worried that the technology will be used during voting or counting of votes, that is not so. Let me insist that BVR will be used for registration of voters only,” he said.
He said the government has put in place good plans on how to manage the General Election and it has conducted a pilot study on registration of voters using BVR in Kilombero, Mlele and Kawe.
He said in many areas many people came out for registration showing that most of them were aware of what they were supposed to do.
