02 May 2019

Independence Electoral Commission officer in Gumare has decried the reluctance by members of opposition parties in the Ngami Constituency to attend Party Liaison Committee (PLC) meetings. 

Speaking at the Party Liaison Committee meeting recently, principal elections officer in Gumare, Mr Oitsile Masole said that political parties were the commission’s key stakeholders, hence the need for them to attend such meetings and air their views.

On other issues, Mr Masole encouraged Ngami constituents who registered for the 2019 general elections to inspect the voters roll for authentication of their details.

The voters roll is currently placed at various tribal administration offices or dikgotla  for the public to scrutinise until May 20.

Mr Masole said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) wanted a faultless voters roll to avoid some hiccups on the day of elections, hence stressed the importance of verification.

Mr Masole said as Gumare office, they had identified some errors in the Ngami Constituency voters roll such as people having been rejected by the system on account of being under age and on account of different names.

Others were rejected by the system on account of having registered elsewhere, while some were rejected on account of Omang not existing.

The principal elections officer also noted that there were cases of some people in possession of voters’ registration card, but not appearing on the voters roll, adding that such people were being encouraged to check with the office for amendments.

Mr Masole however noted that some of those errors were minor and his office would have them fixed in no time.

Meanwhile, the number of valid voters for Ngami Constituency for the first registration, which was from September to November 2018 was 18 165, while the number of those rejected by the system was 100. 

Those who died after the first registration in Ngami Constituency were 43.

Mr Masole however said for the just-ended supplementary registration, the turnout was low, noting that for the first week they only registered 580 people the whole constituency. ENDS