Mozambique voter registration: Attack in Ngalonga-Nangade, and other issues – Joseph Hanlon

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Mozambique voter registration: Attack in Ngalonga-Nangade, and other issues – Joseph Hanlon

3:31 CAT | 20 May 2019

An armed group attacked Ngalonga, Nangade, Cabo Delgado, Friday night 17 May, burning 113 houses and two mills. No one was killed, but it halted registration.

Our correspondents also report

Refusal: In Angoche, Nampula, brigades at EPC de Johar and Escola Secundaria de Angoche are refusing to register people without documents, even when they have the two registered voters who will identify them, as required by law.

No Information: Registration brigade members are refusing to give any information to observers in Mabote, Inhambane (EP2 de Mabote-sede) and Marracuene, Maputo province (EPC de Mbalane).

Bribes: In Lalaua, Nampula, a STAE inspection brigade on Friday 17 May was told by local people that the supervisor at Escola Primaria de Naculue, Bento Faustino, was taking Mt 50-100 (40-80 US cents) from people to allow them to jump the queue and register immediately.

Children: In Liupo, three children from the same family were arrested for having registered but not being voting age.

Burned: In Chibuto, Gaza, Manuelito Bango, age 32, was arrested for setting fire to the registration posts at Escola Primaria de Maiveni, on Saturday 18 May. The fire damaged equipment and registration has stopped.

Collecting cards

There are several reports of officials or party people in Nampula collecting documents, for unclear purposes.

In Lalaua, Nampula, a Frelimo registration post observer at EPC de Nioce named Jaime Abacar was caught on 16 with many 2013 and 2014 voters cards and various identity documents. Some said he was being paid to register people; others said he have been instructed to do it by Frelimo.

In Malema, Nampula, neighbourhood secretaries are collecting documents from residents and then registering them.

From other observer groups

Half of registration posts have problems

Half of the 2,893 registration posts visited by a coalition of six observer groups had problems, Jose Dias told a press conference Thursday.

Problems were serious enough that 10% of registration posts did not open the first day, and on subsequent days 17% were closed. Augusta Almeida said that 44 posts in Gurue, Zambezia, and 5 in Mogovolas, Nampula, have never opened because of a lack of power supplies for the Mobile ID registration computers.

The observers conclude that the host of problems with power supplies and equipment failures are making a significant contribution to the registration being below targets.

The target is for brigades to register people in 3 to 5 minutes, but only 65% of posts were meeting this. Most posts are no accessible to people with disabilities. Frelimo has party observers in 96% of posts visited, while Renamo has them in only 59%. Of brigade members, 53% are women.

The civil society organisations in the group are Associacao Desenvolvimento e Sociedade (ADS), Comissao Episcopal de Justica e Paz (CEJP) da Igreja Catolica de Mocambique, Liga de ONGs Mocambicanas (JOINT), Centro de Aprendizagem e Capacitacao da Sociedade Civil (CESC), Solidariedade Mocambique and Sociedade Aberta (SA), all based in Maputo. They have 600 observers working in teams of three, and report they have observers in all districts.

By Joseph Hanlon

Source: 2019 General Elections - Mozambique Political Process Bulletin