26th October 2010
The team which had been joined by Salome Nduta from Kenya attended two events ;1)Mwanza Media reporters and CSOs representatives meeting from 9.00A.m to 1.30 P.m at G& G Hotel in Mwanza which was organized by MPI.
2) CCM Presidential flag bearer campaign rally Mr.Kikwete the incumbent president at Nyamagana Mwanza city.
In the meeting which was also attended by local observers ,Media reporters were argued to ensure that their code of conduct is seen to be observed as they execute their duties and obliged to the following;
Ensure impartial, fair and balanced coverage of elections and give equitable access to all candidates and political parties because it is in the national and people's interest to do such.
Promote unity ,peace and stability
Commit themselves to be seen positively contributing to achieving free and fair elections by developing the capacity of their media institutions as opposed to sighting violence.
On the contrary Journalists reiterated that their professionalism has been compromised with. Thus Journalists have resorted to working for survival other than holding to professional ethics.
In conclusion Journalists were asked to up hold to the principles of preserving; self Integrity, Objectivity, Independence and profession due care in the execution of their duties.
CCM Presidential campaign rally conducted by the incumbent president his excellence Kikwete was held in the open space in Nyamagana.The rally had a large crowd full of excitement dressed in the party yellow and green attire;T-shirts caps,kangas and flags, chanting party slogan ;ushindi ni laziima(winning is a must).The president landed in a chopper at a play ground in the neighbour hood and picked by a fleet of six vehicles to the campaigning venue.
Two of the vehicles were green, a party colour.
CCM ,Kikwete Presidential campaign rally at Nyamagana on 26th October 2010.
The rally had a live band that kept crowd energized. Despite his campaign speech taking short time of about 25minutes, people started leaving the venue when he was half way .Among others the President appealed to voters vote for him and his party parliamentary flag bearers. The environment was calm and the rally ended well without any harassment at 6.10 P.m.
27th October2010
The team which had been joined by Thadea Karekezi went to Buswelu in Ilemela constituency and found the CCM rally had just ended. Nevertheless few people mostly women were still there chanting party songs of victory whom we interviewed together with the area party chairperson and all expressed support of the incumbent party flag bearers.
Thereafter we followed the contestant Mr.Diallo to pasiasi where his day's next rally was to take place .
As we waited till 4.00 p.m in vain, we decided to move to Igogo Nyamagana constituency to observe an opposition rally of a CHADEMA parliamentarian flag bearer.
The rally was collaborated by both CHADEMA and CUF parties .CHADEMA flag bearer was campaigning for parliamentary seat while CUF flag bearer was for councilor seat.
The rally was held in Igogo Mwanza city congested suburb area and not in an open place.
People in attendance had budges, flags and posters for both parties; CHADEMA and CUF.
Below is CHADEMA Parliamentary campaign manager at a rally at Igogo in Nyamagana constituency
CHADEMA Parliamentary flag bearer Mr.Wenje at his rally in Igogo ward in Nyamagana.
There were more men than women and the youth were many and calm. Despite the rally taking long, people stood eagerly listening amidst rain drizzles.
To note at this rally there were people dressed in CCM party attire but no chaos ensued.
General observation;
Visiting the Landing site at Lake Victoria in Mwanza, people transacting business normally and same is true for social centres to mention;Kirumba Resort and Shooters pub.
In the catholic parish church no politicking is being preached other than praying for peace, unity, free and fair elections.
28th October 2010
The Team which had been joined by Mudakikwa John an observer from Rwanda moved to Magu District Head Quarters with the guidance of the Local observers; Vicent Ludomya and Sylvester Kakinda and met among others the District Executive Director (Returning Officer) and the District commissioner.
The District Executive Officer had this to say ;
That there are two constituencies under his jurisdiction namely Magu and Busega
Magu has 18 wards with 369 polling stations and Busega has 13 wards with 258polling stations making a total of 627 polling stations.
Registered voters are 230,889.
The District executive director moved the team to the store which housed the voting materials which were found well packaged and ready for distribution.
Magu District Executive Director Mr.Ngundungi with a team of observers in stores for electoral materials receiving a phone call.
The team further had an interaction with the District Commissioner whom we were informed that is in charge of security. She appreciated the presence of observers and pledged her support to the team.
She assured the team of maximum security and that there was no cause for alarm.
The team was further informed that there are ten returning officers at the District Headquarters under whom are thirty one assistant returning officers at ward levels.
Team with Magu District commissioner M/s Zainabu
Voter's awareness;
The district executive director observed that there has been extensive voter education advertisement by both the CSOs and the Government. He pointed out that:
sample ballot papers were already displayed in every polling station, a claim confirmed by local observers
sensitization of the masses on ballot paper and voter education generally was going on through media and ward level interactions with electoral officials and civil society
Readiness of the NEC officials in the area to conduct election
On whether the district election officials and the NEC was ready, Mr. Cornelius Ngundungi, the District Executive Director (DED) who is also the Returrning Officer for the 2 constituencies of Magu and Buseka in Magu district, assured us that his team was more than ready for the electios:
a team of 41 Assistant Returning Officers (10 at the district HQs and 31 others at the division level) has been assembled to man elections
training of polling officials has already been conducted at all levels
Electoral materials have already been packaged ready for transportation to the divisions and wards the next day. We were conducted to the electoral materials storehouse and we saw the materials securely sealed with serialized seals, transparent and serialized ballot boxes, each sealed with voter materials, destined for specific polling stations
Electoral materials included ballot papers, voter lists and registers, t-shirts and identification tags for officials.
a state of the art IT modern tally center, was being set up and expected to be ready by 30th October 2010, to facilitate consolidation of votes from polling stations and transmission to NEC HQs
The DED has established a conflict resolution committee to deal with complaints and complaints handling mechanisms which involved political parties involved.
Copies of code of conduct for political parties` aspirants were given to observers.
Consolidation of votes.
The District executive Director explained that;
Vote accounting shall done at spot on the voting day evening.
For councilors results shall be declared at the polling centre
For parliamentarian results shall be counted at each polling centre and there after consolidated at the constituency level.
Presidential votes shall be counted at polling centre and later on consolidated district level and eventually be sent to National level where they shall be declared.
Sabasaba campaign rally ;
A discussion with the campaign manager of UDP and two other colleagues indicated that CCM was favored by the electoral commission because they were interfering with the schedule of party rallies and no action was being taken. This has resulted into some of the youth supporters of the party being arrested.
An excited campaign supporter waiting for CHADEMA parliamentary flag bearer at sabasaba dancing on top of a moving car.
Compiled by;
Sanza John, Mwanza
Edited and uploaded by;
Bwambale Edwin, Dar es Salaam
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