CONSTITUTE DISTRICT REGISTRATION REVIEW COMMITTEES (PAGE 14)

THE Electoral Commission (EC) in the Northern Region has directed district electoral officers to constitute District Registration Review Committees to look into challenges that confronted the recent limited registration exercise in the region.
According to the Regional Director of the EC, Mr Sylvester Kanyi, the committee would, among other things, examine challenges of minor and double registration, in line with Article 13 (1) of the Constitutional Instrument (CI 12) on public elections regulations of 1995.
The provision states that “there shall be established in each district a district review committee ... which shall examine challenges related to the registration of voters in the district”.
Furthermore, he said, “the CI enjoins the committee to decide whether or not the person is qualified to be registered as a voter and communicate its decision in writing to the EC”.
Mr Kanyi indicated that members of the committee would comprise district directors of education, representatives of traditional authorities, district police commanders, electoral officers as well as one representative each from active political parties in each district.
According to the director, the committee would pass judgement after investigations and aggrieved parties who were not satisfied with the judgement could proceed to the law courts.
“The committee will invite the challenger and the challenged to prove or disprove their claims,” he stated.
Mr Kanyi explained that the challenges recorded in the recent voters registration exercise included minor registration, misplaced or lost voter’s ID cards and voters on transfer or relocation.
Touching on provisional figures for the recent limited registration exercise in the region, the director said that a total of 152,130 people were registered during the exercise in the 18 districts of the region.
He further indicated that out of that number 34,173 registered voters could not take their photographs.
According to the director, the EC would soon evolve a strategy to address the problem of bloated register.