2018 Senatorial in the NW:

Who Planted Surveillance Camera at Mbengwi Polling Station?

A Surveillance Camera was found at Mbengwi Polling Station

On March 25, 2018 as the 134 councilors of the five sub divisions that make up Momo Division rallied at the lone polling station, at Government Nursery School Mbengwi for the senatorial elections, a video surveillance camera was discovered in the poling room in violation of the electoral code that says the elections are suppose to be secret.

            The camera lens had been carefully covered with a pink cardboard paper and a little opening made on the paper through which the lens was able to capture images and the server hidden in the ceiling.

            This was discovered thanks to the vigilance of one of the councilors after more than three quarters of the councilors had already cast their votes.

            The discovery halted the voting process for about two hours and the process only resumed when the camera and its accessories dismantled and elections stakeholders promising that investigations will be opened to bring the perpetrators to book.

            True to the promised made by the Governor of the North West region, Adolphe Lele Lafrique, while addressing the press at the polling station, those who were directly involved in the management of the polling station were questioned within the week in a move to get information from them that can led to the arrest of the perpetrators.

            Although investigations are ongoing, conspiracy theorists have been quick to point accusing fingers at different quarters.

            Some of them are indicting the CPDM intimating that they planted the camera to fish out CPDM councilors who could have attempted to vote other parties. This indictment is given credence by the fact that CPDM councilors were given huge sums of money to buy their loyalty to the party by voting the CPDM list.

            Other conspiracy theorists are blaming the security forces. To them the camera could have been planted just for security reasons so as to fish out any councilor who tries to tamper with election equipment. This accusation has some justification given that with the tense security climate in the region, the security is leaving nothing to chance with all security measures being to used to ensure that peace is maintained and people who want to jeopardize it brought to book.

            To other conspiracy theorists, it could have been people loyal to the numerous separatist movements existing in the two English speaking regions that planted the camera so as to get the faces of the councilors who went to vote.

            This accusation is given some credence given that before the elections, forces of these separatist movements called on councilors in the North West and South West regions to boycott the elections promising tough times for those who will go to vote.