People with disabilities urged to register in voter roll

KAGERA: PEOPLE Living with Disabilities (PLWD) have been urged to register themselves in the Residence Register and participate in the Local Government Election scheduled for November 27, 2024.

Kagera Regional Secretary under the Tanzania League of Blind (TLB), Novath Mwijage made the remarks on Thursday when he registered himself in Bukoba Municipal.

“People Living with Disabilities (PLWD) have equal rights, and should register themselves in the voter roll and also participate in the Local Government Election scheduled for November 27, 2024,” he said.

Elaborating, he said participating in local government election is a fundamental democratic right that allows citizens to elect leaders who will oversee development in their communities.

However, he appealed to political parties to give chance for people with disabilities to contest for various leadership positions at streets, hamlets and village levels.

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“We have sad memories in the past where people with disabilities were not allowed to contest for leadership positions. This negative attitude should not be repeated,” he said.

Adding….”On behalf of all Kagera residents, I thank President Samia Suluhu Hassan for implementing numerous people-oriented projects that have benefited many Tanzanians in various sectors including health, education, water and energy sectors,” he said.

He also emphasised the role of education in ensuring all political parties pick competent candidates for election.
He urged the government to continue enforcing accountability for all leaders as a determining factor for electing competent representatives, including Members of Parliament (MPs), Village Chairpersons and Ward councillors.

In Kagera, there is a total of 3,833 registration centres with approximately 1,566,530 eligible voters aged 18 and older expected to participate in the local government elections.

The registration exercise started on October 11 and run through October 20 of this year, while nomination forms will be collected and returned between November 1 and November 7, 2024. Campaigns will take place from November 20 to November 26, 2024.