Voter verification slow, marred by problems

The ongoing voter register verification exercise at village level has recorded a low turnout in different districts of the central region, Saturday Monitor reporters have established.
On Monday, the Electoral Commission (EC) announced a week-long nationwide exercise to verify particulars of voters at village level and identify persons with disabilities (PWDs) in each village.
The exercise, which is supposed to be conducted by parish supervisors/verification officers with the help of village chairpersons, is expected to end on Monday.

However, several village council offices visited on day three of the exercise, had no activity going on, while others had closed. According to the arrangement, village chairpersons are supposed to convene village council meetings, during which the verification officers are supposed to conduct the exercise.
At eight village council offices in Masaka Municipality, no activity was going on, when we visited at 11am on Thursday. The spot checks were done in the villages of Kasijjagirwa Cell, Kizungu Cell, Old Kumbu Village, Bata Cell, Yard Cell, Lions Cell, Forkland Village and Market Cell.

Mr Kitaka Nsubuga, the chairperson of Folkland Village, said verification officers allocated them only three hours and later moved to other villages.
“We received them at short notice and since we had not informed residents, only eight per cent of them showed up,” Mr Nsubuga said.
He revealed that Katwe/Butego Division, which has 11 villages, was allocated only six days to update a register of more than 200,000 voters, which he says was unfair.

Mr Henry Ssenabulya, the chairperson of Market Cell, says only six per cent of residents in the village showed up for the exercise.
“We received information on Sunday when the exercise was starting on Monday. To my surprise, some members on my committee also didn’t participate due to short notice, and we didn’t hold a council meeting prior to the exercise,” Mr Ssenabulya says.
Mr Sam Ssemwanga, a resident of Bata Cell says he was unaware of the exercise.
“I am just getting the information now. Maybe the Electoral Commission wanted it that way, so that in the end they deny us a chance to vote the people we want; accusing us of not verifying our names on the voters’ register,” Mr Ssemwanga said.

Most of those we talked to faulted the EC for deploying few verification officers for the exercise.
But Mr Paul Bukenya, the EC’s deputy spokesperson, insisted that the exercise was moving smoothly. He said in some villages where low turn up has been reported, it is the village chairpersons to blame “for failing to do their work.”

“I am in touch with our teams on the ground and the reports I am getting indicate that the exercise is moving on well. Where the exercise has not started those are few isolated cases, and it is the village leaders to blame, because they were facilitated to mobilise residents to take part in this exercise [and didn’t do so],” he said
He advised people to use the remaining days to turn up in droves and clean up their voters’ registers.

In Mubende Municipality, the situation was not different. In Kigaaga, Kisekende and Kasaana A villages, there was no activity going on in regard to the voters’ register verification exercise.
Ms Christine Fiona Kunihira, the Mubende District returning officer, says they have a problem of numbers.

“We have one team which is going to rotate around every parish. So we have drawn a programme to ensure that all residents in the villages get the time to verify their names on the register. In villages where we have reached, we have seen a reasonable number turning up for this exercise,” she reveals.
In some villages where verification officers reached, Ms Kunihira says they discovered that some voters registers were missing.
“This slowed down the exercise on the first day, but this has now been solved because I managed to secure registers from the Electoral Commission head office in Kampala,” she adds.

Some EC sub-county supervisors who asked not to be named say that in some villages, chairpersons had promised to convene council meetings during evening hours after residents had finished their day’s business. Other village chairpersons reportedly resolved to convene council meetings at the weekend when all residents are around.
In Lyantonde Town Council, Mr Ismail Ssempi, the chairperson Kaliro Village, says the exercise was yet to start.

“They [verification officers] came here last Friday and gave me a copy of the voters’ register, but they later withdrew it from me, saying they will come back. I am still waiting,” Mr Ssempi says.
Ms Juliet Nassuuna, the Kaliro Parish supervisor, says in Mwota Cell, Lukaya Town Council, only 25 residents turned up for the exercise, while in Kakooza Cell, no resident had showed up in the first four days.

“We are going to continue meeting residents in the remaining days to ensure that they all participate,” Ms Nassuuna says.
Ms Mable Kihembo, the Lyantonde deputy district registrar, says their team is currently concentrated in villages and will move to towns over the weekend.
In Luweero Town Council, the LC3 Chairperson, Mr Paul Mukungu, says more awareness building is needed.

“I cannot independently tell you that residents have not embraced the exercise. The EC gave them an entire week for the exercise. I have hope that they will respond in the subsequent days. It is also true that the rain could be disrupting the exercise in particular areas. This is a town council where we get many people migrating to other areas with many new voters coming in. We expect voters’ registers with many changes,” Mr Mukungu says.

News from Gomba District was different, however, with Mr Alex Magezi, the assistant returning officer, saying the exercise was moving on as planned. Similar news came from Mpigi District.

Report compiled by Dan Wandera, Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa, Richard Kyanjo, Ali Mambule, Josephine Nnabbaale Wilson Kutamba & Sylvester Ssemugenyi

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