Katiba debate: Constitutional views on NEC needed, Judge Lubuva

ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO

THE National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman, Judge Damian Lubuva, has advised the people to contribute their views on the kind of commission they desire to have in the on-going exercise of collecting views in a quest to rewrite the country's new constitution.

"The structure and manner in which NEC members are selected has been a bone of contention for activists, politicians and ordinary citizens and I think it is high time people came forth to give their views on the way forward," he said.

Judge Lubuva was speaking after welcoming a delegation of four commissioners from the Malawi Electoral Commission who are in the country for a study tour ahead of their country's general elections which are slated for 2014.

He noted that NEC would be ready for any changes that may occur as a result of people's views at to the kind of the commission they want. He added that the commission would like to have full trust from the members of public.

"The community should understand that the commission is operating in accordance with the Constitution and should understand that despite the criticisms we have no choice but to continue to do our work until the people decide otherwise," he said.

Judge Lubuva, however, held that the commission has always been free and fair in executing its duties and that it will continue to work in a transparent manner. The Leader of the Malawian delegation, Ms Gloria Chingota, noted that unlike the case in Tanzania where all the members of the commission are nominated by the state, in Malawi members hail from the National Assembly.

"In Malawi the National Assembly, which is currently made up by members from five political parties, is asked to present five names from each party and is from there where the president picks the members of the electoral commission," she said.

Ms Chingota said further that just like Tanzania, in Malawi the Chairman of the commission is nominated by the president. "Our commission exercises full autonomy when it comes to executing its duties and we do not allow any influence from anyone including the president," she said.

Commenting on the tour to NEC, Ms Chingota noted that the visit is aimed at learning from Tanzania on how to supervise tripartite elections at a time, as the Malawi commission is planning to do so in the forthcoming elections.

"In the past we have been supervising presidential and parliamentary elections only, but for the first time in 2014 we will be supervising local government elections and thus we found it necessary to borrow a leaf from the best practising countries like this," she said.

Source: Daily News (16/08/2012): http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/8612-constitutional-views-on-nec-needed