UGANDA'S FLAWED ELECTIONS: Commonwealth observers speak out on the registration exercise

Replacement of District Commissioners

42. Among the first complaints we encountered was that, during the registration process, some 14 District Commissioners had been suspended so as to disengage them both from registration activity itself and from acting as returning officers for the poll. It was alleged that in each instance the suspended DC had been replaced by a person known to be a supporter of the UPC. At our first meeting with the Chairman of the Military Commission, he himself raised this matter and explained to us that the suspensions had been rendered necessary by the incompetence and dilatoriness of those concerned and their refusal to conduct the registration process in accordance with the law. We must however, say that in the course of our travels we spoke to staff who had served under a few of these DCs as well as some of the DCs themselves. While we are unable to comment in respect of all the suspended DCs, in a few instances at least we found that the DCs in question enjoyed the confidence and respect of staff and public alike. While this in our view may not have materially affected the ultimate result, it generated suspicion and doubt among many sections of the electorate. This was heightened by the replacement of the Chief Justice only days before the poll.