|
Of qualified citizens who are denied the right to vote by the law
2005-09-01 07:19:54
By Keregero Keregero
Any qualified Tanzanians living abroad on the material day for voting, voters who can’t physically reach respective polling stations (they maybe bedridden) have their right to vote rendered into disuse.
Political campaigns currently gaining ground through out the country are part and parcel of the electoral process in a multi-party democracy.
But more importantly, they are a matter of law.
The law has been enacted to safeguard the right and corresponding duty of the general populace in electing the person or persons of their choice. And, that is within the inputs of the Election Act.
It is, therefore, in the spirit of this specific law as supported by provisions of respective mother laws for Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, which the presidential candidates for both the Union and isles presidencies are campaigning.
And, so are the parliamentary candidates along with their sub-ordinate councilors.
In the course of campaigning the presidential candidates seek leave to go to Ikulu, while the parliamentary candidates seek the voters’ consent to represent them in respective law making bodies, the legislatures.
This is even if it means the votes seekers’ go to dose in Mbunge in the event of heated debates.
For, that valuable consent and leave will have been granted, after all, for the legislators would have become legislators of the highly privileged house for a term of five years, in the absence of an intervention by an arrow of God.
The custodian of election politics, the National Electoral Commission, most recently made the campaign kick-start.
The candidates are all out in the votes market negotiating and canvassing for support votes from the electorate.
Voting on October 30th this year, when the country holds general and parliamentary elections, will follow the campaigns.
This fundamental right is well spelt out in the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977 as amended from time to time.
The Constitution clearly provides inter alia:
’Subject to the provisions of Article 5,39 and 67 of this Constitution and of the laws of the land in connection with the conditions for electing and being elected or for appointing or being appointed to take part in matters related to governance of the country, every citizen of the United Republic is entitled to take part in matters pertaining to the governance of the country, either directly or through representatives freely elected by the people, in conformity with the procedures laid down by, or in accordance with, the law.’
But the irony is, though the right to freedom of conscience and, precisely, the freedom to participate in public affairs is vividly embedded in the mother law, all is not well with the Election Act.
This is because in our country the statute also denies some category of people, however qualified voters they might be, and the right to participate in the governance of the country.
This defect in the law can be vividly seen in the method of voting which requires a registered voter to present himself/herself physically to the polling station in the polling district he or she was registered in order to vote.
By all purposes and intent the law assumes an iron stance and strict as it is, does not provide any mechanism in the alternative.
But what does this mean? In the first place, it can be deduced that the statute is not broad based to cover all other necessary categories of people who constitute qualified voters.
Secondly, that the law is strict and that its rigour has had adverse impact on the said categories and lastly, that dire need arises for it to be amended to address the defects in question.
Some categories of people whom the law denies the right to vote on the polling day includes some Tanzanians living outside the country.
These include diplomats or other officers in diplomatic missions, students in learning institutions and the business people. This is indeed a lacuna in the law.
Their franchise right and citizenry in as far as the right to participate in public affairs is concerned have been rendered into disuse, apparently for no good cause at all.
The sooner the government addresses the matter in such a way that would consider the problem of the physical inability of qualified voters to walk to respective polling stations on the polling day, whether it might necessitate sending a bill to parliament thereto, the better, at least for the near future.
Such changes would broadly cater for citizens who happen to be living outside the country during election period, those registered as voters but happen to be outside the country on the material polling day, leave alone citizens found bedridden and hospitalized on the polling day.
If it were possible for the parliament to amend the law by enacting Electoral Laws (Amendment) Act, i.e the Electoral Laws(Miscellaneous Amendments)Act, Act No.13 of 2004 which amended the Elections Act, Act No.1 of 1985 and the Local Government (Elections)Act, Act No.4 of 1979 and which amendment improved the right to vote and participation in public affairs, the same law making body need to improve it further.
Under the said amendment, the permanent national voters register was established to curb, among others, forgeries arising from elections.
The permanent voters register has been one of the critical issues raised since the 1995 general elections with the National Electoral Commission.
The issue became a matter that finally landed in the High Court of Tanzania last year.
It was a matter filed by the opposition political parties against the government following the government’s insistence of the use of a resident register in the local polls held last year instead of the permanent voters register as required by the law.
The opposition did win the matter in as far as the use of the permanent voters register is concerned.
|
