By. Damba Rogers
A new report by Ctiziens Coaliton on Election Democracy Uganda and NGO Forum on the update on the concluded national voters register reveals that over one million (43%) new young voter who have just made 18 years are likely to miss out on voting for their leaders of their choice.
According to
the national coordinator, CEDDU, Charity Ahimbisibwe, the findings of
the report reveals that most of these young and energetic voters were being
asked to present national IDs which they didn’t have as well as the NIN.
With most of
them bounced by the registration officers, they opted to give up on having
themselves registered for the 2020/21
exercise.
The findings
further reveals cases of extortion, low levels of voter education, sharing of
data kits among others.
Observers
noted that whereas each of the 10,011 parishes countrywide was envisaged to
have an enrollment kit, due to logistical reasons, some regions had one (1)
enrollment kit shared among an average of five (5) update centers within a Sub
County. For accessibility purposes, the
enrollment officers in some cases moved the equipment between Parishes to
ensure broader coverage within a Sub County.
This however inconvenienced registrants who failed to locate update
centers in various places within the Sub County. Observers came across kits
that were either not functioning or that regularly malfunctioned. Incidents of cameras and scanners not working
were prevalent during the first week of the exercise. In most cases, the EC responded to reports of
malfunctioning equipment through providing trouble-shooting assistance as well
as offering technical supervisory support to the enrollment officers in the
field.
Voter
education on the NVR Update exercise was the jurisdiction of the Electoral
Commission. The EC elected to partner with commercial media agencies to
publicize the exercise. Whereas standard practice is that voter education
should be conducted before the update exercise, to allow prospective voters to
know about the process, its prerequisites, and how to optimize opportunities
presented through the process, this was not executed. Voter education was conducted concurrently
with the update exercise through conventional and non-conventional media
channels including: social media, radio, TV, community radios, mobile
billboards. Key voter education providers during the update exercise included;
the Electoral Commission, the Uganda National NGO Forum (UNNGOF) and political
parties. The late onset of voter
education had notably serious implications. Multitudes of prospective
registrants were either unenthusiastic to go to update centers or went to the
centers with limited knowledge of what the process entailed, what was required
of them and what was involved. Some enrollment officers exploited the little
information around the exercise to extort money from applicants through selling
transfer forms; ask for irrelevant/inappropriate documentation such as voter
location slips other than National IDs or National Identification Numbers
(NINs); and in other cases transfer or refuse to register or transfer applicants
without legitimate reasons. Media
channels provided information about the update exercise to the public in the
most accurate, unbiased, and objective way. The media played this role through
radio and television programs on the process, flighting advertorials, and
carrying stories on the exercise, especially the trends and emerging issues
during the process.
CCEDU now cautions that the coming electoral exercise be well publicized and organized to help the voters go through the set steps if the country is to have a smooth and credible electoral process.
The Uganda
National NGO Forum’s observation of the Update of the National Voters’ Register
exercise conducted by the Electoral Commission (EC) between 21st November and
23rd December 201.9 in preparation for the 2020/2021 general elections in Uganda.
UNNGOF
deployed 52 observers covering 46 districts in 14 regions, i.e. Acholi, West
Nile, Sebei, Ankole, Lango, Karamoja, Tooro, Bunyoro, Teso, Busoga, Bugisu,
Bukedi, Kigezi and Buganda. The update
exercise was observed at 729 update centers (parishes), representing 7.3% of
the total update centers countrywide1
over a period of fifteen (15) days. The
overall objective of the observation mission was to systematically gather
information to inform meaningful stakeholder engagements on the credibility and
transparency of the exercise. The following are the key findings
END