Drive rallying citizens to vote starts
Acting Electoral Commission chairman, Joseph Biribonwa
What you need to know:
The campaign seeks to mobilise eligible Ugandan voters to participate in the register update.
Kampala. A national mobilisation campaign to enlist citizen’s participation in next year’s election has been launched.
The campaign dubbed “Votability” seeks to mobilise eligible Ugandans to actively and peacefully participate in the register update exercise before it winds up on April 30.
The exercise, run by civil society group, Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), at the weekend explained to boda-boda (motorcycle) riders the electoral process and their civic duty.
Mr Crispy Kaheru, the coordinator for CCEDU, asked Ugandans to realise that once this opportunity for them to screen the voter’s register is gone, they would never have it again.
“We are mobilising all Ugandans to go and check for their names on the register because there is a window of opportunity and mechanisms in place to include their names in case they do not appear on the current register. It is not about the time given to us by the Electoral Commission. It’s about the urgency with which we handle this matter,” Mr Kaheru said.
He added that it was unfortunate that many Ugandans take things lightly and wait to crowd the voter register update centres on the last day of the exercise.
CCEDU’s ‘votability campaign’ comes in the wake of a warning by the Electoral Commission that there will not be an extension of the deadline to the voters’ register update exercise which began on April 7 and closes on April 30.
Mr Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi, the CCEDU communications manager, said they decided to focus on boda-boda riders because they constitute a unique segment of the population of between 18 and 35 years of age with the biggest stake in urban areas and a large varied clientele.
“They are also the most frustrated and tend to think that elections do not matter. We want to tell them that they matter,” Mr Mwanguhya said.
According to the acting Electoral Commission chairman, Mr Joseph Biribonwa, the purpose of the general update exercise is to register eligible Ugandan citizens of 18 years and above, who are not yet registered as voters, as well as those who were not registered during the mass enrollment exercise for purpose of issuance with a National Identity card.
Currently, display of the registers is taking place at designated centres in each parish starting from 8am to 6pm daily, including weekends.
