EC starts demarcation of electoral areas in Mbale
A section of Mbale Town. PHOTO BY FRED WAMBEDE
What you need to know:
- The speaker of Mbale District council, Mr Muhammad Mafabi, said they were happy that the Ministry of Local Government had finally instructed EC to embark on the demarcation exercise
The Electoral Commission (EC) has started demarcating electoral areas and polling stations in the newly created Mbale city ahead of the 2021 General Election.
According to the revised roadmap, which was released last week, the elections will take place between January 10 and February 8, 2021.
The Mbale District returning officer, Mr Charles Rebero, told Daily Monitor in an interview at the weekend that the exercise of demarcating the city and re-demarcating the rest of the district started last week.
“We have started the exercise and I, therefore, request the residents and leaders to be cooperative and support the process to ease our work,” Mr Rebero said at the weeknd.
Mbale is one of the seven cities that were approved to start operating effective July 1.
Mbale city will have two city divisions; Bungokho and Industrial. Bungokho Division comprises Northern Division, Nakaloke Town Council, and sub-counties of Bukonde, Nakaloke, Namasaba, Lwaso and Namanyonyi.
Industrial Division is made up of Industrial Division, Bugema- Nauyo, Wanale, Bukasakya, and Nambale (Bungokho- Mutoto) areas.
The city will have two directly elected Members of Parliament, a woman MP and the lord mayor.
Mr Rebero explained that the city council will have four directly elected councillors and women councillors from each of the city divisions.
New polling areas
“Each city division will also elect two representatives, male and female for youth, PWDs and older persons, among other interest groups, as we will be guided going forward,” he said.
Industrial Division will comprise 26 wards while Northern Division will have 32 parishes, each represented by directly elected councillors and women councillors forming one-third of the council.
“Some of the wards will be paired with others depending on the proximity and populations during the demarcation activities,” Mr Rebero said.
According to EC officials, the district will remain with two constituencies of Bunghokho North, which will comprise five sub-counties of Bufumbo, Wanale, Bubyangu, Budwale and Jewa Town council.
The other constituency is Bunghokho South, which has sub-counties of Bukhiende, Bunghokho, Busano, Lukhonge, Bumbobi, Nyondo, Nabumali Town council, Busia, Busoba, Bumasikye, Busiu Town Council and Bunambutye. Statistics from EC indicate that Mbale had 257,276 voters during the 2016 General Election.
The speaker of Mbale District council, Mr Muhammad Mafabi, said they were happy that the Ministry of Local Government had finally instructed EC to embark on the demarcation exercise.
“We are happy and ready to support the exercise because we are time barred,” Mr Mafabi said.
He added that he has written to the district chairperson, Mr Bernard Mujasi, to convene a meeting this week to discuss and finalise the issue of the relocation of district headquarters.
