LOSERS CRY FOUL AFTER EACH ELECTION ...

LOSERS CRY FOUL AFTER EACH ELECTION MAINLY BECAUSE THEY ARE ILL PREPARED FOR THE EXERCISE.

It is now the norm in Uganda mostly after the Presidential elections for the losers to cry foul. Crying foul is synonymous with condemning, denouncing, decrying, protesting because the loser thinks something was wrong or not fair.

However, at the level of the Presidency, many join the contest when they are financially misfits. The contest needs enough funding so that one does not use the excuse of having been cheated as a scapegoat.

The Electoral Commission is mandated under Article 61 (1) (a) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda to conduct free and fair elections and referenda. This mandate can only be achieved if all Polling Officials perform their duties with integrity and in accordance with the law.

Polling Day Officials include: Presiding Officers, Polling Assistants and Election Constables.

The Polling Process has a number of stages. These include: Opening of Polls, Closure of Polls, Counting of Votes, Filling Forms, Announcement of Results and transmission of the results to the supervisor.

The above stages in the Polling Process are the reason why each candidate in the election should have at least two well facilitated Agents at each Polling Station.

Most Presidential candidates ignore budgeting for the Polling Process and hence use ‘cheating’ as a scapegoat. How can you prove that you were cheated when you had no agent at a Polling Station?

Candidates should first of all endeavor to get literature from the Electoral Commission to understand the Polling Process well. The information availed should enable the candidate to better prepare for the challenges.

Without Agents, the Polling Day Officials can easily be bribed to change results. We for example know that these are paid shs 50,000 and 40,000 for a day. However, a candidate can easily bribe them with bigger money and delivered in cash to change the results.

Uganda has 34,344 Polling Stations. A Presidential candidate needs 2 Agents at each of the Polling Stations. This makes a total of 68,688 Agents countrywide. Each of these should be paid a minimal of shs 50,000 for the work on the Polling day. That makes a total of shs 3,434,000,000. It is also important to consider shs 20,000 for at least one Agent to the District Tally Centre. For 34,344 Agents shs 686,880,000 is needed.

If a Presidential candidate cannot raise about shs 5,000,000,000 just to cater for the logistics of the Polling Day, such a one has just one thing: To cry foul that he or she was cheated.

Advice:

If a Party or an individual is hoping to contest for an election, planning is a very important function and the parties concerned MUST prepare in advance for the challenges, otherwise, the party or individual enters the Presidential race ready to cry foul that they were cheated. The cheating is facilitated when a party enters the contest as a misfit. There is no gamble about the fact: One enters a meaningful Presidential contest backed by funds, short of funds, having been cheated is always used as a scapegoat.