Few
days after Dar es Salaam residents had finished the
first exercise of filling in the forms for the national identity cards, followed
by the population and housing censures, it has been revealed that a good number
of the youth have not taken part in the two exercise, Mirror digest can reveal.
The
youth, most of them living in Dar’s suburbs of Mwananyamala,
Sinza, Kijitonyama, Buguruni,
Manzese, Mburahati, Mabibo, and Tandale and deriving their
daily income from crime- related activities such as thieves, drugs abuse, and touts,
could not fill in the forms and be enumerated as per the requirement of the law
on ground that it was government’ strategy to easily arrest them when they
commit crime.
In
an interview with Mirror digest in separate occasions this week, the youth who normally
don’t have permanent residence and who preferred anonymity, they said the
government was very clever because it deliberately conducted the two exercise,
in order to arrest them or simply smoke them out of the city of Dar es Salaam which has more opportunities for them to survive
than any other region in the country.
“We
have never seen two exercises been conducted at ago, and where people are being
asked their three names, common or popular names, place of birth, mobile phone
number, three names of all the parents, and addresses of permanent residence,
is this not targeting us? For this, our mind doesn’t tell us to participate, we
are sorry” they said.
According
to them, many particulars in the forms scared them because filling in the forms
was like digging their own grave, something which they will never do.
Sought
for comments, a local government chairman for Kijitonyama Philip Komanya
confirmed to have not seen them filling in the forms for the national identity
cards although he knew many of them in different streets in his area. He said even
his counterparts in other areas could not see them as well.
He
said when he tried to ask them why they did not participate in the two
exercises, they simply answered that they were scared of what they called
“controversial particulars in the forms”.
“Yes,
I have several jobless youth in my streets but until closing date of the
exercise for Dar es
Salaam region, they have never shown up for fear of
being arrested. I tried to allay fears of the exercise but they maintained that
if they filled in the forms, they would end up in prison” said the Local
government Chairman.
The
local government chairman advised that they needed education first on the
importance of the national identity cards.
In
Mburahati, Mwanayamala and Buguruni, the youth said that they also wanted to the
national identity cards and be enumerated but the nature of their work cannot
guarantee their safety.
“When
you look at the particulars in the forms, there is a place where one should
write his or her work, if employed or not, there is also area for signature, is
that not touching a live electrical wire for us who are jobless in the city?
They asked.
Although
the national identity cards exercise and the population and housing censures
have been conducted peacefully, there have been several hitches and
irregularities, something which might not give correct and accurate statistics.
By
Mwiga Mtavya
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