The planned referendum on the proposed constitution is likely to be postponed to August or held side by side with the General Election in October, following incomplete preparations.

Sources within the Tanzanian government says the Cabinet approved to postpone the referendum—earlier scheduled for April 30—owing to challenges arising from the slow pace in issuance of new biometric voter cards.

Attorney-General George Masaju has been directed to prepare a Bill to amend the law on the referendum to repeal the April 30 date and accommodate the proposed changes.

The government was looking at either setting August as the new referendum date, or letting Tanzanians go to the polling station in October and vote to either accept or reject the proposed constitution, then proceed to cast their ballot to pick civic leaders, MPs and president.

But the October date for the referendum looks most viable considering the logistical problems and huge funding requirements that would go into facilitating such momentous undertakings, two months apart.

READ: Can Dar get new law and hold elections this year?

The actual date for the two will, however, be made public once the AG tables the Referendum Amendment Bill in Parliament that opens Tuesday in Dodoma.

The April date had been arrived at as per the law. The Referendum Law provides that a public vote on the proposed constitution be held within 84 days of the document’s delivery to the president.

But for nearly five months now, critics have been urging the government to simply postpone the referendum, citing several factors, including lack of preparedness by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

ALSO READ: Tanzanian churches reject proposed constitution

Reached for comment Monday, the Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, declined to discuss the matter, saying only that the referendum date would be addressed by the NEC.

“My ministry is not responsible for the referendum; it’s under the jurisdiction of NEC, and NEC hasn’t made any public announcement to the effect that it has failed to meet the voter registration deadline,” the minister said shortly after distributing copies of the proposed constitution to public agencies and NGOs in Dar es Salaam.

Efforts to reach the AG Monday proved futile as he was not reachable through his mobile phone. But one of his assistants told The Citizen that the government chief legal advisor was on his way to Dodoma to attend the parliamentary sessions.

A source said the Cabinet has acknowledged that the serious shortage of funds for NEC’s biometric voter registration kits (BVRs) had affected the strict timelines set for the referendum.

READ: ID hitches mar Tanzania’s election preparations

“We only have 40 days remaining and now when you exclude Easter festivals and considering the number of regions that have not yet been covered by NEC, you can see it won’t be possible to carry out the referendum now,” explained the source who requested anonymity since he was not the official government spokesman.