Government rejects Opposition demands to stop ID registration

Opposition politicians (L-R) Kiiza Besigye, Olara Otunnu and Mugish Muntu address journalists at Parliament yesterday. PHOTO BY Geoffrey Sseruyange

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“We are acting under the Immigration Act which gives powers to the board to register nationals. It has challenges but it cannot be stopped because Parliament and Cabinet approved it ,” James Baba, state minister for internal affairs

Parliament.
The government yesterday rejected demands by Opposition parties that it should immediately suspend the registration exercise for issuance of National IDs.

The Opposition claims that the registration is being executed without a supporting law and might be a ploy to use computed data to fix the 2016 polls.

Addressing journalists at Parliament, Opposition activist Kizza Besigye, UPC president Olara Otunnu, and FDC president Mugisha Muntu exposed loopholes in the National ID project, saying it lacked legal backing and is being merged with registration of voters even as it continues being hampered by technical glitches.

Citing legal, operational and technical difficulties, the Opposition demanded that the exercise be suspended pending an elaborate legal basis for the project.

The Opposition took a particular issue with plans by the Electoral Commission to use data being collected to come up with a voters’ register for the 2016 polls saying the EC must rely on independently collected figures.

“Gen Aronda (Nyakairima), the supremo of the project has been making controversial political statements while the LCs are not only illegal but are part of the Movement System.

If the people registering are partisan, then the credibility of what they are doing is suspect because they will have a conflict of interest. For that reason, registration should be done by an Independent body,” Dr Besigye said.

“That is exactly how rigging takes place, you register people who are not eligible and disenfranchise those who are eligible,” he added.

The voters’ register was at the centre of the 2001 and 2006 election petitions in which Dr Besigye challenged President Museveni’s victory.
Issuance of a new voters’ register is also key among the electoral reforms proposed ahead of the 2016 polls.

However, in rejecting calls for the suspension, junior Internal Affairs minister James Baba told a parliamentary committee that the project was being implemented under the Immigration Act.

Mr Baba explained that several government entities and not Gen Aronda alone is incharge of the project.

“The President appointed Gen Aronda and Cabinet decided that he supervises the project,”Mr Baba said. Adding that there was no ploy [to rig the polls].