National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman Judge (rtd) Damian Lubuva speaks during a signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam yesterday on electoral assistance to Tanzania by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Left is UN Resident Coordinator, Alberic Kacou and center is EU Ambassador to Tanzania, Ceriani Sebregondi. PHOTO|SALIM SHAO
What you need to know:
He reassured that immediately after purchasing BVR, the voters’ register would be updated.
Dar es Salaam. Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG) chairman Judge (rtd) Amir Manento yesterday publicly criticised the National Electoral Commission (NEC), accusing it of lacking in transparency and accountability.
Judge Manento said if NEC chairman judge (rtd) Damian Lubuva won’t strive harder to abide by the laws of the land when discharging his duties, the country was likely to plunge into chaos, jeopardising its cherished peace and security.
The CHRGG boss was speaking in Dar es Salaam at a ceremony to sign an agreement on electoral assistance to Tanzania courtesy of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“NEC should be honest, transparent and accountable to our people so that we avoid any problems in future as the country heads towards the 2015 General Election and the 2014 Constitutional Referendum,’’ he said. The retired judge further asked the election watchdog to comprehensively review the voters’ register, warning that if the exercise was not prudently carried out, many Tanzanians would be denied their right to participate in the referendum and the next General Election. He also accused the ministry of Finance of delays in disbursing funds to NEC.
In his response, Judge Lubuva concurred that there were some delays in the release of funds to NEC but disagreed with his learned friend on his assertion that the commission was not transparent.
“As a general principle, our primary goal in any democratisation is ensuring that there is transparency, and that is what we have been doing all along,’’ he said, adding that NEC was seeking further measures to facilitate a smooth conduct of the 2015 polls. “For reasons that are beyond our control, we have been facing delays in the release of funds from the ministry responsible, but we are looking for ways to do eradicate that problem in order to deliver a free, fair, transparent and credible election come 2015,’’ he said.
According to him, NEC requires Sh279 billion for the 2015 polls and that the process to purchase biometric voter registration (BVR) kits was ongoing, despite the setback the commission suffered on the previous tendering process. In the first process, having been disqualified for failure to comply with the requirements of the tender document, M/S Safran Morpho and M/S Iris Corporation Technology logged separate appeals before the Public Procurement Appeals Authority, which in November 29 last year ruled that the award of the tender to the successful tenderer had been illegal and ordered a restart of the process. According to Judge Lubuva, the process is currently on course. He reassured that immediately after purchasing BVR, the voters’ register would be updated.
During the signing of the cooperation agreement between EU and UNDP meant to renew their long- standing partnership in the provision of electoral assistance to Tanzania, the former made available Euros 3.7million (about Sh8.2billion) towards the Democratic Empowerment Programme (DEP) managed by UNDP. The DEP is a three-year multi-donor joint initiative worth Sh36.2 billion and whose aim is to support credible and peaceful General Election in 2015, the Constitutional Referendum 2014 as well as longer term sustainable improvement of the electoral process.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by both Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman and his NEC counterpart. Speaking at the ceremony, the EU ambassador, Mr Filiberto Sebregondi, said EU was in support of the Tanzanian people as their country embarked on the Constitutional Referendum 2014.
“What we believe is that, there will be free and peaceful elections in 2015. On the longer term, we trust we will be contributing to the financial and institutional sustainability of the electoral process,” said the ambassador.
UN resident coordinator Alberic Kacou said the UNDP would work with the EU and other development partners to support the election management bodies towards the preparations for the 2015 General Election. “This builds on the existing partnership between the EU and UNDP to support the government of the United Republic of Tanzania work towards achieving its developmental results,’’ he said.
