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{
    "id": 719053,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719053/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 170,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Makenga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1650,
        "legal_name": "Richard Makenga Katemi",
        "slug": "richard-makenga-katemi"
    },
    "content": "countries have gone the electronic identification card way. They do not conduct continuous registration of voters. There should be a system whereby an ID will carry the details of the voter. That could minimise the cost of conducting a one month exercise and even trying to put this country into an electioneering mood and, hence, bringing it to a standstill. That is because everybody is out there trying to persuade people or voters to vote. It is high time we gave solutions. We should not only talk about how to continue persuading people. We should come up with a solution. There is money that had been allocated and was meant to have introduced the electronic identification card system. Somebody is just sitting on those approvals. Some countries like Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique have gone the electronic identification card way. Even Tanzania, our neighbours here, is using that system. It is important to know that voting is our right. In some countries like Germany, if you do not register as a voter, I think it is criminal. It is criminalised. We should not criminalise our citizens because of not registering as voters. Let the Government do its part. Let the people in charge of registration of persons adopt the current system of registration, which is going to make it very easy. It is going to cut on cost. It is going to eliminate so many other challenges and issues that sometimes force the people in charge to ask for documents which are not available. The previous speakers have talked about documents which are being asked from married women. They are being told to go back to where they were born so that they can be issued with voters cards. That, to some extent, is not right. It is very unfair. We should try to treat people equally in this country. There should be social justice. There should be fairness. You cannot subject people to that. If my daughter was married in Western Kenya, you cannot tell me she has to come all the way to Makueni to register. That is very unethical. It is high time we had three systems of registrations - voluntary registration, persuasive ways of registration of voters and a compelling system of registration. This is something that can be compounded and put into a one-stop system by issuing electronic identification cards. We should be sensitive to the cost of running this exercise. We should not go round subjecting the country and everybody, including Parliament, to this. The absence of Members is because they are down there trying to persuade their people to register. This Motion is a good but, we should think seriously about the solution; and not talking about what has happened in the past. We should now focus on the future and we shall have a solution to this problem. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}