Speaking to various social groups, the IGP said this year’s General Election has a lot of challenges as competition is very stiff
Musoma. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu admitted here that this year’s General Election is a hot contest and reminded political parties of their role to ensure peace during campaigns and after the election.
Speaking to various social groups that included the elderly, religious leaders, business community and politicians here, the IGP said this year’s General Election has a lot of challenges as competition is very stiff and that maintenance of peace should not be left to the police alone.
“We need to understand that maintenance of peace and tranquility in our country is not the duty of the police alone. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders especially political parties and politicians,” he said.
He insisted that the competition this year was going to be stiff due to the growing of democracy in the country. He asked politicians to take the opportunity of improved democracy to unite Tanzanians instead of sowing seeds of division.
He said that campaigns should be conducted in consideration of laws and ethics, adding that politicians should use wise words when telling people of their policies.
“Politicians must use wisdom during campaigns and election time. There is no need of using abusive words, Instead, they should tell people why they should vote for them,” he explained.
The IGP said past experience in most African countries had shown that they plunged into unrest because politicians lacked wisdom, adding that such occurrences could be avoided if politicians were patriotic and conducted campaigns according to laws and regulations.
He asked politicians to tell their voters to leave polling centres after casting their votes and wait for results at their homes instead of staying behind waiting for the outcome because doing so would amount to interfering with the work of election officers.
“Parties should trust their representatives at the polling stations. Their supporters have no mandate to stay behind and protect their votes,” he said
Speaking at the Meeting some participants asked the IGP to equip Police in Mara Region so that they can respond to incidents of law breaking timely.
Mr Dominic Athumani, a politician asked police to enhance patrols.
“Police have the major role to play in protecting people and their properties and they can only do that if they have enough vehicles and other equipment” he said
Mr Majura Alphonce, a businessperson said: “Not only residents of Mara can breach peace and security but also people from outside who might import things that can be used to conduct criminal incidents, so it’s better if they will be equipped so that they can stop such kind of people to import those things,” he insisted.
