January 12, 2009

The Petition Made By Awdal Elders is Reconciliatory And Deserves Attentive And Responsive Audience.

This has reference to the petition submitted by Awdal elders and other notable personalities on January 7, 2009 and addressed to the concerned authorities. The elders of Awdal Region has, at last, come up with meaningful argument and reasonable recommendations, which although to be further scrutinized, should be the basis of serious discussion of the claim that the local registration process is not accurate and plagued with misrepresentation.

Firstly, the tune of Awdal Elders is quite reconciliatory and deserves attentive and responsive audience.

Secondly, the following statistics compares the number of the recently registered voters with those cast in the parliamentary election of 2003. The figures indicate that unlike Saxil and Awdal, Maroodi-Jeex and Tog-Dheer regions reported unusual increases, which should be further scrutinized. Someone would argue that during the parliamentary elections of 2003 not all the eligible voters cast their votes, which would justify the sharp increases recorded by Maroodi-Jeex and Tog-Dheer. However, we are all aware that 2003 parliamentary elections were well contested as each sub-clan was keen to have someone in the chamber.

Region Parliamentary Election 2003 Voter Registration 2009 Registration Change

M. Jeex 255 417 + 63.5%

T. Dheer 122 315 + 158%

Awdal 133 133 Nil

Saaxil 52 51 - 2%

Thirdly, the grievances put forward by Awdal Region representatives should also apply to Saxil Region, although the latter did not express any complaints. Accordingly, the same corrective measure, if any, should be applied to both regions.

Further, Awdal representatives claimed that only 40% of the eligible voters in that region were registered. This is difficult to verify, but the table above supports the notion that something had gone wrong in Awdal and Saaxil regions. The statistics reflects that the registered votes in these two regions did not recorded any increases vs. number of votes cast in the 2003 parliamentary elections, whereas Tog-Dheer has more than doubled or 158%, while Maroodi-Jeex went up 63.5%.These numbers deserve careful examination.

The question is: How could this happen? The only possible and logical answer is as follows: We all know that the registration Software has in-place a mechanism for identifying double vote registration based on the voters’ fingerprints which is almost foolproof. However, we are also equally aware that at the time of the registration the individual workstations (PCs) where not inter-linked. In other words, each computer assigned to one particular registration station was working in a standalone environment.

Moreover, the Fingerprint Identification Device that is embedded into the same workstation computer was not being activated at the time of registration due to time constraints. Accordingly, it was possible for any person to register his or her name more than once (at the same station, at various stations in the same region, and also in more than one region). As a result, it is technically possible that some people, we not know how many, had registered their names more than once.

The other question is: How could we verify that any such representation and fraud has occurred and also how could we correct any such fraud without jeopardizing the creditability of the registration processes that has already come to an end. The answer is as follows:

First, we cannot formulate special measures that would apply and tailor-made only to Awdal and Saaxil Regions as this would open the widow to an endless number of other requests, which will undermine the whole process, and we will end up in total chaos.

Secondly, the Voters Registration Law provides for Clause which allows that due diligence registration should continue (at low capacity) for some 15 days after the main Campaign has been concluded. It is obvious this process has not been carried out properly obviously due to logistical reasons. In this context, I would recommend the following: “The commission has total capacity to launch some 340 voting registration stations at one point of time.

The commission should launch a 5 days nation-wide campaign to weed out the process and register the people who, for some reason whatsoever, have not registered their names. This would eliminate any claims that some people were not registered due to lack of adequate equipment, timing and other constraints.

In order to disqualify the possible double registration, the commission has in place a Fingerprint Sorting ID mechanism. As already announced by the commission, this sorting process is being conducted and all the data is being input into regional and then country-wide Server. This would easily expose any persons who have registered their names more than once; whether this was at the same station, at regional levels, or across to other regions. Accordingly, anybody who is presently disqualifying the genuineness of the process is required to wait until the server sorting process is concluded.

Having said that, I equally disagree with the following aligations and claims made by Awdal elders:

A) Adwa elders claimed that 6 registration stations in Baki area and 5 in Lughya area, which they contend to be part of Awdal, were excluded from the registration due to dispute with Maroodi-Jeex. Here, it was imperative on the elders to substantiate their argument with concrete evidence. We are all aware of the modus-operandi on which the registration process has been based and the by-laws enacted to govern the voter registration are based on the district boundaries that existed in 1960. According to 1960 district political map, the entire disputed area was ruled from Hargeisa, including Gabeilay and Lughaya.

B) The Elders claimed that in some other regions even children were registered illegible voters. However, they did not demonstrate any evidence whatsoever to support their claim. This argument would stand only if the registration teams were recruited at regional levels, in which case the motive would probably be attributed to nepotism and/or tribalism.

However, we are all aware that the registration teams were recruited at national levels and the same teams were being redeployed to the new region that was being registered. This contention by the elders carries the whole-marks of lack of confidence and a feeling that all has conspired against the people of Awdal. This is a very serious allegation and would require concrete evidence.

C) The elders demanded that any duplicate voter registrations should be cancelled and treated a Null and Void. I totaling agree with this point.

D) Finally, the elders also demanded that any registration that does not carry voters’ finger prints should be cancelled and treated a Null and Void. Once again, I totaling agree with this point and question how this could happen.