Uganda’s Electoral
Commission is not credible, this is public knowledge. You can imagine how the Commission fooled the
people of Uganda towards the 2011 General Elections, by the day of the
elections, many people had their names deliberately displaced and a number of
people were not able to vote. If the
Commission was doing a credible work, their registers would play a crucial role
in the current ID registration. The
Government of Uganda should instead act urgently to see that what the people of
Uganda want as reforms in the Electoral laws are passed and implemented before
expenditures to start on the process for preparations of the 2016. The recommendations for the office bearers to
lead the Electoral Commission are in place, these include an equivalent of a
High Court judge as Chair of the Commission among others, and the President should implement them in
case the amendments don’t finally include a new formula for composition.
A lot is said about
moles planted by NRM in the Commission offices who are the mechanics behind
manipulations which end up with false victory after the doctoring of the
results. We are also aware that the
Census will soon take off, and this will also give light on the number of
people in various areas. One of the
things which the Commission is discredited about is the register which is
inflated which gives chance to vote
stuffing hence false results at the end.
THERE SHOULD BE NO
MONEY TO THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ORGANIZE 2016 ELECTIONS UNTIL REFORMS ARE
AGREED TO PRIOR TO 2016 ELECTIONS.
The cost of
elections has been climbing at a disproportionate rate. For the 2006 election
the Electoral Commission was allocated a little over Shs 69 Billion from
Parliament and foreign donors. To date the Electoral Commission has been allocated
more than Shs 185 Billion from parliament for the 2011. And while the number of
districts has increased from 69 to 112 it still doesn’t
account for this dramatic increase in allocation. While many Uganda newspapers
have speculated that some of this money is siphoned back to NRM candidates.(DEMgroup January 2011 report)
The February 2011 Ugandan Presidential elections can be
characterized as nothing more than an attempt to satisfy the international
community who believe that holding elections are proof of democracy. Like the
previous multiparty elections held in Uganda in 2006, vote rigging, bribing of
electoral officials and intimidation of political opponents have summarized the
election of President Museveni to an unprecedented fourth term as President of
Uganda.
The Electoral Commission (EC) figures reveal that approximately
9 million people cast votes. If one takes into consideration that half of
Uganda’s population is under 15 years of age, this means that roughly 14
million people were eligible to vote.(5) Minus Uganda’s elderly (65+)
population of 1 million citizens and a combination of persons who do not vote
or cannot vote (by means of either conflict or inaccessibility) of 1 million,
this means that 70% of Uganda’s population who are eligible to vote have voted.
This figure also means that voter turnout must be 100%.
Source:
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Written by Anton M. Pillay
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Monday, 04 April 2011
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