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INEC denies claims of blocking disability groups from voter education in Mwanza

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted claims that it denied permission to organisations and institutions for people with disabilities

MWANZA: THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted claims that it denied permission to organisations and institutions for people with disabilities to provide voter education in the Mwanza region.

Instead, the INEC said those who did not get the permit failed to apply for permits until the deadline expired.

INEC Director of Elections, Mr Kailima Ramadhan, said on Friday that it is not in the interest of the commission to deny anybody a permit to perform his/her duties related to preparations for updating the voter register.

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He said the Chairperson of the Mwanza Regional Association of the Visually Impaired, Musa Mashauri, who claimed that disability institutions in the Mwanza region had been denied permits by the Commission to offer voter education to voters was not true.

Mr Ramadhan clarified that it is incorrect to claim that disability organisations were denied permits, insisting that the commission has never received applications from them.

He noted that the National Chairman of the Association for the Disabled admitted in June this year in Dar es Salaam that some organisations were late in submitting their applications due to procedural system reasons.

Mr Kailima said some of the organisations that applied on time were granted permission to provide education as required. He said the Tanzania Alliance for Disability Initiative was granted permission by the Commission and that it is currently providing voter education with 15 educators.

“Therefore, it is very wrong to say the commission denied permission to some organisations, most of these failed to submit applications on time and they never reached INEC,” he noted.

Mr Kailima explained that according to the results of the 2022 Population and Housing Census, a total of 5,586,433 new voters are expected to be registered, which is an increase of 18.7 per cent of the 29,754,699 voters as per the 2019/20 update.

He said a total of 4,369,531 voters are expected to update their information, and 594,494 voters are expected to be removed from the register due to ineligibility to remain in the permanent voter register.

“After the update, the voter register is expected to have a total of 34,746,638 voters,” he said.

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He said in the Mwanza region, the Commission expects to register a total of 190,131 new voters, which is a 10.3 per cent increase from the 1,845,816 voters currently on the Permanent Voter Register. After the registration, Mwanza will have a total of 2,035,947 voters.

Opening the meeting, the INEC Chairman, Judge Jacobs Mwambegere, warned some people who attempt to register twice.

He said every eligible voter is allowed to register once and that those who deliberately try to go against the procedure will face the law.