Makerere e-voting system locks out freshers as police, army deploy
Combo: Police and the army deployed at Makerere university as students vote for their new guild leadership online on April 14, 2023. Photos/ Doroth Nagitta
What you need to know:
Several first year students said they had been frustrated by the e-voting system
Several first year students at Makerere University main campus were blocked from voting in the ongoing virtual guild elections.
The online system of voting at the university was first adopted in 2020 and also used in 2021 during Covid-19 pandemic.
Following the death of one Betungura Bewatte, a second year Bachelor’s of law student of Uganda Christian University (UCU) who was stabbed during 2022 Makerere University’s guild election in July 2022, the university council drafted a new students' guild statute 2022, in which all physically voting and election activities were suspended indefinitely.
Mr Alfred Kyaze, a first year student from the college of Social sciences, said he could not access the system during the Friday voting exercise.
“I started to try voting at 9am and now it's two hours past but I have failed to vote for my candidates. Whenever I try to login in, the system rejects my details," Mr Kyaze said in an interview with this publication.
Mr Duncan Kigenyi, the aspiring Guild representative councilor at the school of Business said, “ This problem is general. It’s affected all the colleges. I have been helping year ones since morning but none has succeeded."
Ms Olivia Nakato Nabatanzi, a second year student from the college of Business Management, also added that the system had many glitches which are as a result of poor internet network connection.
“This is my second time to vote but nothing has changed from what happened in the previous elections. The system is really down and frustrating. For me to successfully vote, I had to make eight attempts," Ms Nabatanzi said.
Students at the university’s Jinja campus also said they were facing challenges using the new technology as they couldn’t access their webmail.
Mr Mata Rugambwa, an aspiring GRC at the college of Engineers, said they lost direct contact with their voters due to the new voting process.
“You find most of the students are voting for Guild president because they are popular but when it comes to us, they just vote for whoever approached them immediately," Mr Rugambwa said.
When this publication contacted, Mr Levi Tshilumba, the chairperson of the Electoral commission, he said all students who have complaints should report to the tallying center for assistance.
However, police and the army deployed heavily around the tallying center, with several students claiming they had been denied access.
The voting exercise started at 8amam and will be closed by 5pm.
There are nine guild aspirants in the race after two supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP), including the party’s official candidate, were disqualified.
The aspirants in the trace are Sabiiti Akankunda, Julius Birigwa, Robert Maseruka, Baraka Nkoyooyo, Oremo Odwee, Mark Ssebunya, Andrew Lubinga, Evans Murungi and Emmanuel Wanyama.
The winner will be replace the outgoing 88th guild president, Mr Lawrence Alionzi.
