Elections and Boundaries: No political interference in the Re-registration

Josephine Tamai

Three weeks ago the Office of the Prime Minister announced major cabinet changes. Among the adjustments was the transfer of the Elections and Boundaries Department from Minister Hugo Patt to Prime Minister Dean Barrow. PM Barrow is also the Minister for Finance and Labour, Local Government, Rural Development, Energy, Public Utilities and Public Service. Minister of State with responsibility for Elections and Boundaries is Frank ‘Papa’ Mena. The change comes weeks before the re-registration exercise commences and some political observers are questioning the timeline. Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai assured that no political interference will be allowed during the re-registration exercise.

Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer

“From since being at the Elections and Boundaries I must say even though we fall under a government ministry, it’s not to say that we have political interference in terms of the department. We have the commission and we have the department. The commission is the body that makes the policies when it comes to those things. The whole issue of re-registration the planning and everything started, I could say, at least over a year ago. So just to say that there was a Cabinet reshuffling, that we will have any interference. I cannot see how that can happen. I want to assure the public we will continue and we will maintain the status that we have presently. The politicians don’t interfere with what we do at the department. The politicians have their role to play stakeholders and we have our role to play as a government department.”

Eight million dollars have been made available for the re-registration exercise.