CCM nomination polls in Tarime postponed over rigging allegations

CCM nomination polls for parliamentary and councillor posts in Tarime rural and Tarime urban constituencies were on Saturday postponed after many ballot papers were allegedly caught already voted in favour of some candidates.

“The polls have been postponed until today. Many ticked ballot papers have this morning been confiscated.

We want each ballot paper to be ticked by one person not one person ticking hundreds of ballot papers”, Tarime District CCM chairman Mr Rashid Bogomba told angry CCM supporters when announcing the decision at the party’s office here on Saturday.

According to him, over 4,000 ballot papers were found ticked in Tarime rural and over 2,000 found ticked in Tarime urban. He named some stations caught with ticked ballot papers as Nyanungu, Nyamwaga, Sirari, Mbogi, Magena and Nyamongo.

The District CCM chairman appealed for calm among the party members and get ready for voting today (Monday). “We are changing the supervisor of the election and you will be informed today”, he said.

Dozens of police officers were deployed at the district CCM office to prevent any possible violence acts. At the same time the Tarime District CCM Secretary, Mr Barnabas Nyerembe, was picked by officials from the Tarime District Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB) under tidy security for questioning in connection with the incident.

Some CCM members called for immediate removal of the District CCM secretary on ground that he was behind the deal. Efforts by the ‘Sunday News’ to get the District CCM Secretary for comment failed after he was picked from his office by PCCB officials.

Acting Regional Police Commander for Tarime/ Rorya Sweebert Njewike was not available to give detailed information about the matter.

“I am currently on my way to Tarime from Mwanza and I will issue my report after arriving”, the acting RPC said when reached for comment over phone.

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