The Civil Society Coalition for Election Monitoring (COSOME) has called for the suspension of the registration process, due to irregularities related to the distribution of identity cards. The Minister of Home Affairs has admitted there are problems, but deems it unnecessary to stop the process.-By Lorraine Josiane Manishatse
Burundians being registered ©Iwacu
The president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, said on Monday December 1st that civil societies members and opposition parties requested CENI to temporarily suspend registration activities, due to irregularities related to the distribution of National Identity cards and people who are registering multiple times because they possess several identity cards. Since not all Burundians of voting age have ID cards, the President of CENI allowed for the admittance of baptismal records, student cards, birth certificates and driving licenses under the condition of being accompanied by three testimonies.
Justine Nkurunziza, the chairwoman of COSOME, mentions several irregularities. “In Gahombo Communie; Kanyanza Province, a person who presented an identity card without a picture has been registered. A similar case has been observed in Shombo; Muramvya Province, where two persons were registered illegally. The first one presented a baptismal record without a card number, while the second person presented an Identity Card that did not mention a date of birth. In Gahombo, many persons presented identity cards without finger prints”, she regrets. Nkurunziza believes that local authorities are accomplice to the fraud.
In their reports, COSOME identifies the exact names and locations of those associated with the fraud. She continues: “At Kigamba, in Cankuzo Province, two communal agents in collaboration with the administrator of Kigamba Commune were distributing ID cards in an unknown place at Humure sector. At Buhinyuza in Karuzi Province, the chief of hill commune and a CNDD-FDD agent distributed ID cards in his home. Similar cases are observed in Busoni in Kirundo Province and Bukinanyana, Cibitoke Province.”
“Distributing ID cards disproportionately to members of the political party in power has corrupted the electoral file. That is the reason we ask CENI and the Minister of Home Affairs to suspend registration activities, in order to ensure transparency in the process”, she says. “Because transparency is the single most important democratic principle.”
Pacifique Nininahazwe, the Chairman of the Burundian civil rights organization FOCODE, supports this position and calls upon CENI to address all concerns expressed by civil society organizations and the opposition.
Edouard Nduwimana, the Minister of Home Affairs, has admitted there are a quite few irregularities. “Most of the irregularities are due to the haste with which the identity cards are issued, as many of our citizens do not have one”, he said,seeming dismissing the severity of the criticism.
Voter registration for the 2015 elections started on November 24 and ends on December 7.
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