The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has empowered some of its employees to serve people with special needs, especially the deaf.

The move aims to ensure that people with special needs, especially the deaf, participate fully in the 2025 general election.

Speaking to HabariLEO during the ongoing Law Week celebrations in the city, NEC's Assistant Director of Legal Services, Rose Chilongozi said that the action was based on identifying the abandonment of some people with special needs.

"When every general election ends, the Commission must do a detailed monitoring and evaluation, and through that monitoring and evaluation we have found that there is a group we have not included because they do not know what is going on due to the Commission's staff not being able to provide education during the election because our staff do not know the sign language.

"The commission, in collaboration with our partners, has conducted sign language training for our employees and two employees have received more advanced training in the area," he said and added:

"We believe that with this step and through our executives, we have solved the challenges faced by people who are voters and candidates of political parties, this means that now we will properly participate in the election activities."

And the Education Officer from NEC, who is an expert in sign language, Johari Mutani said that when moving towards the improvement and enrollment of voters in the Permanent Register of Voters, the Commission has come up with a special program to convey education to people who are deaf and blind.

He said that through the program, the Commission will make short films in sign language that will explain the duties of the Commission, the qualifications of a voter, what qualifications a candidate should have at the levels of president, member of parliament and councilor.

"We will be providing education through sign language through the films, for example we will be explaining what qualities make a person run for various leadership positions and what things make a person lack the qualifications to run.

"There are also complaints, for example a person is registered in the Voter's Register but is not a citizen. There are procedures for filing objections, so even people with special needs have the right to know because they have the right to run.

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Mutani added: "we will also have voice recorders for the blind, they will have all the knowledge that a citizen should know. We want if someone cannot read normal text, then he will be able to get education through sound and sign language."