12 January 2008
Maputo — The Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the Mozambican civil service, insists that the computer problems that plagued the first phase of voter registration last year will not recur when registration resumes next Tuesday.
"We are much better prepared", STAE general director Felisberto Naife told a Maputo press conference on Saturday.
The entire electorate is being re-registered from scratch since it is generally accepted that the existing registers are unreliable (largely because of STAE's inability to remove the names of voters who have died). Voter registration was arranged hastily when it was imagined that elections for provincial assemblies would be held in December or January.
Initially just 60 days - 24 September to 22 November - were allotted to the registration. For the first time in Mozambican history, the voter registration was computerized - but so cramped was the timetable that it was impossible to import all the computers, digital cameras, scanners and other equipment needed by the 3,242 registration brigades by 24 September.
As a result only a handful of registration brigades in the provincial capitals could start work on the scheduled date. It took weeks before all the others were up and running. Furthermore, the brigade members were unfamiliar with the machines and had received very little training in how to use them. This slowed the registration down, and brigades constantly ground to a halt, sometimes because of breakdowns, but often because of inadequate training.
These were among the problems which led the Mozambican parliament to amend the constitution, allowing the provincial elections to be postponed (probably until 2009). As a result more time was available for voter registration - it continued until 15 December, was interrupted for the festive season, and will run for a further two months from 15 January to 15 March..
The main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has repeatedly claimed that the computers used are "obsolete". Naife dismissed this claim, pointing out that obsolete computers would not have been able to register 7.5 million voters between September and December.
There have also been frequent accusations in the Mozambican press blaming an unnamed South African company for the computer problems. Naife pointed out that STAE had not signed contracts for the supply of computer equipment with any South Africans, but with the Mozambican group Insitec. The contractual responsibility to deliver computers in working order and on time lay entirely with Insitec.
About 1,300 of the 13,000 brigade members have declined to renew their contracts. STAE has recruited and trained new staff, and Naife insisted "We have no shortage of staff".
In addition, technicians have been trained in all 128 districts in how to handle any computer breakdowns. This should avoid the problem of brigades forced to shut down for several days while waiting for a technician from the provincial capital to arrive.
One serious problem facing the second phase of voter registration is the current flooding across large swathes of central Mozambique. Some of the places where registration brigades worked last year are now under water. Naife said alternative sites for these brigades were being sought.
Many roads are now impassable, so to reach some of their posts registration brigades will have to use boats, or ox-drawn carts. In extreme cases, the equipment will have to be carried by human muscle power to the registration posts.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
