Police hold one for tampering with BVR machine

POLICE in Kahama district has arrested one Biometric Voter Registration Machine (BVR) at a house of a Chairman of Nyakato hamlet in Kahama town Mayunga Alphonse (Chadema). Speaking with journalists, the District Commissioner Benson Mpesya said yesterday that the incident happened at around 21:00Hrs at night in the hamlet whereby the machine w as busy registering voters at such unlikely time of the day. The DC noted that, security forces in the district received information from good Samaritans which enabled them to arrest the alleged machine together with five identification cards which were already registered. He said in the process of arresting the machines, they also managed to arrest an illegal immigrant from Burundi who at the time of arrest has already been illegally registered with the machine which at that time was inside the house of a chairman. In another development, police in the district are holding deputy ward executive officer of Nyasibi Lugina Misango who had a legal mandate to look and supervise such machines for the mistakes of allowing such machines to be used contrary to the procedures set by the National Electoral Commission (NEC). In another development, the DC Mpesya has called on journalists who are unlawfully used to refute such claims to know that his office has a full government authority and that should they wait for the legal steps to be taken against them as the evidences of the arrest of such a machine is at the police station. Since the start of the voter registration processes in permanent voter registration book in the district, this is the first incident to have ever happened and which has brought attention to the general public and the according to the DC, investigations by the police in the district are going on.  Contacted for comments over the matter yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Chadema’s spokesperson Tumaini Makene said that, his party has received such incriminating reports and that were busy to contact the alleged chairman for enquiry. He said in a telephone interviews that, when they contacted him he refused to have been arrested with such a machine, neither he had involved in such malpractices which are still under investigations.