Uncertainty is rising on whether the referendum for a new constitution for Tanzania is going to be held in April 30 this year as scheduled or if it will be postponed, due to legal technicalities around missed deadlines and logistical problems.

Although the National Electoral Commission (NEC), through its chairman Judge Damian Lubuva assured The EastAfrican last week that the referendum will be held as planned, preparations are far behind the schedule stipulated in the law.

Legal and Human Rights Centre director of advocacy Harold Sungusia said according to the law governing the referendum, there are certain procedures that should have been put in place starting 14 days immediately after the proposed constitution was made public.

“The process is unsure, taking into consideration that even the permanent voter’s registration is yet to be updated and we have only three months left,” said Mr Sungusia.

Procedures

Highlighting the procedures, he said that the law is clear that after President Jakaya Kikwete and his Zanzibar counterpart Ali Mohamed Shein made the proposed constitution public, the referendum should have been gazetted within 14 days, which is yet to be done, three months later.

Mr Sungusia further noted that the NEC, which serves the Mainland, and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission should have published a referendum question within 14 days, which is also yet to be done.

Moreover, the two commissions should have announced when public education on the referendum would take place and also announced within 60 days when the referendum will be opened and closed — again something that is yet to be done.

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“The law is clear that a person liable to participate in the referendum is only one who is registered in the voter’s registration, which is yet to be updated,” said Mr Sungusia.

He said that the commission is required to divide the constituencies and announce the centres for the referendum after taking into consideration geographical areas and the population.

Civic United Front (CUF) chairman Ibrahim Lipumba said it would be practically impossible to hold the referendum, especially taking into consideration that the biometric voter registration (BVR) kits are yet to be delivered.

“It is unrealistic for the commission to bring in 8,000 BVR kits for 40,015 voting centres and say that each centre will complete its registration within 14 days,” he said. The BVR kits encountered technical difficulties in the pilot registration last year.

Prof Lipumba called for postponement of the referendum until after the general election slated for October this year. In view of this, he said that the government should work towards making minimum reforms to update the current Constitution to render it viable for the general election.

He further said that it was imperative to amend the current Constitution soon because it does not provide clauses to postpone the general election.

Even after political parties agreed with President Kikwete last September that the country should go to the polls using the current Constitution, which was to be amended to accommodate an independent electoral body and private candidacy, these amendments have not even been scheduled.

However, without articulating the schedule of preparations, Judge Lubuva insisted that the decision to have the referendum in April was made by the president and nobody has the mandate to change that but him. “The law is quite clear that the only person who has the authority to set the date is the president,” he said.

He added that the NEC is preparing to start the procedures that will lead to the referendum “anytime soon” and the public should be prepared to have it on April 30.

Judge Lubuva acknowledged that the commission encountered challenges with the 250 BVR kits that were brought in for pilot registration, but said the problems in the software and hardware are currently being tackled.

The government is expecting a total of 7,750 kits that apparently are yet to be manufactured. Reports, which NEC denies, say the company contracted to make the kits may not deliver them in time as it is facing workforce challenges.

Indeed, Judge Lubuva is on record insisting that it was impossible to hold a referendum on April 30 and Tanzanians will not go to polls before the voter register is updated.

Judge Lubuva, who was addressing the council of political parties in Dodoma in October 22 last year, said updating the voter register was likely to take plenty of time, making it virtually impossible to hold the referendum on the date the chief state legal adviser announced last Monday.

In October last year, President Kikwete announced that the referendum date would be April 30, 2015. The campaign period would commence on March 30 and end on April 28. He also said the government would make haste to update the national electoral register to ensure that the referendum went ahead on the stipulated date. 

The government has approved a budget of Tsh133 billion ($76.85 million) for NEC operations but as of last September, only Tsh21.5 billion ($12.4) had been released.

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