
EC chairperson, justice Simon Byabakama appears at Parliament in 2023. PHOTO/FILE
As the clock ticks close to 2026, the Ugandan diaspora's ability to exercise their right to vote diminishes further, with the Electoral Commission (EC) failing to ascertain whether this will even be possible.
The High Court in Kampala in June 2020 directed that Ugandans in the diaspora and prisoners be allowed to be involved in the voting of their leaders during general elections. In her ruling, Justice Lydia Mugambe, by disenfranchising these Ugandans, there is a violation of the Constitution and the right to vote. The court ordered that the EC organise elections for Ugandans in the diaspora and prisons during the 2026 General Election.
Justice Simon Byabakama, the EC chairperson, told journalists on Friday that while the Commission is open to implementing the order, it is not only constrained by the legal framework but also wary of time.
“Matters of elections, every activity of an electoral process is governed by the law… The law says you register to vote in the parish or ward of your origin or residence. That's what the law says. The parish of origin refers to parishes in Uganda,” he said.
He added: “So for us to be able to do that, we need an enabling law that spells how citizens in the diaspora can be enabled to vote from where they are. They want to be registered and enabled to vote from wherever they are.”
Justice Byabakama said any citizen outside the country who wants to vote may have to travel back next year to cast their ballot.
“For enabling them to vote from where they are, in whichever country they are, there has to be a reform of the law ... .as a commission, we are prepared. Although time seems to be running out now, I must say, time is running out. If the relevant law is in place, we shall see how to handle it, whatever the law commands us, if we can appropriately do it, depending on the time, we shall do that,” he said.
Disenfranchisement
Article 59 of the Constitution grants every citizen of Uganda aged 18 or above the right to vote. It mandates the state to take all necessary steps to ensure that all citizens qualified to vote register and exercise their right to vote.
The Auditor General's report for the year ending June 2024 also raises concern about the disenfranchisement of millions of Ugandans who live and work outside the country due to registration delays.
“Nira [National Identification and Registration Authority] planned to have citizens living abroad pre-register online or at the nearest embassy and some registration kits were allocated for the purpose. However, there was no budget or timeline allocated for this exercise. Due to this, citizens abroad may not participate in the 2026 General Election,” the report notes.
Sources at the Commission say it will be difficult to implement this because for them to vote, the EC needs in place a legal framework to not only facilitate the designating parishes out of Uganda but also ensure that they are recognised in the law. The Commission also needs to designate places of registration. According to the roadmap and EC, demarcating parishes and polling stations was completed last year.
“Now if we close the registration of new voters on February 10 according to the roadmap, how then can we have new members in the diaspora registered to vote,” one of our sources noted.
Act now
It remains unclear why the government has not tabled the required amendments. The government has often come under fire for overlooking critical electoral reforms, some of which have been on the shelves for more than a decade. The one time the Opposition attempted to table a Bill, introducing to table reforms, they were advised to hand over and merge their proposals with the government. But the government again sidestepped them.
Mr Nobert Mao, the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, has often urged patience, saying the reforms are coming. Millions of Ugandans, who live and work around the world, repatriating colossal amounts of money back home, cannot understand why the proposed reforms keep crawling to a halt. Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), said the EC simply needs to implement the court order.
“They [diaspora] are citizens, I mean the diaspora contributes over a billion US dollars to the country per year. They're stakeholders. They've got families here, they've got businesses here, and they are Ugandans. They're stakeholders in and of every sense and that is why the court made that ruling. So they can't say that there's no legal provision. They say a decision of [the] court is law,” he said.
“I'm not just saying it because we have a huge support base in the diaspora. Yes, we do… but there are a few who don't support us. But looking at it in the sense that these are Ugandans, regardless of who they will cast their ballot for, their right to vote will be taken away. It disadvantages those Ugandans and disenfranchises them, takes away their right to vote, which is guaranteed in the constitution,” he added.
Other gaps
About voting rights for prisoners, Justice Byabakama said: “The current legal framework says that polling stations shall not be placed or located in restricted security areas like army barracks. I think prison is also a restricted security area. And that's why you find that there is no single polling station in the army barracks. Even in police barracks, there are no polling stations inside, they are all outside. Therefore, even for prisons, the law has to be looked into.”
Mr Byabakama also moved to allay concerns that the Commission is struggling to keep up with the scheduled times and activities of the road map. In the 2024 audit report, Auditor General Edward Akol noted that many planned electoral activities had been delayed amidst financial constraints.
“The Commission was supposed to implement Phase-1 of the road which comprised 14 key activities worth Shs75 billion by June 30, 2024, key among which were re-organisation of polling stations, recruitment of election supervisors, voter education, digitalisation of election documents, procurement of specialised equipment, among others. However, at the time of my report (December 2024) only one activity (demarcating election areas) worth Shs9.52 billion had been fully completed. The other 13 activities were ongoing but significantly behind schedule due to underfunding,” the report notes
In a rejoinder, Byabakama said: “It is not true that we are not conducting the activities of the roadmap as scheduled. We started by launching the roadmap in August 2023, informing the whole country that these are the activities to be conducted during this preparation for the general election. We gave dates for these activities although there was an adjustment for the commencement of the voter registration exercise.”
The Commission is currently updating the National Voters Register, which also includes registration of new voters. When this exercise is concluded on February 10, the EC will then embark on data processing and display of the register.
Despite the challenges, like inadequate and faulty registration kits, Mr Byabakama is optimistic that every eligible citizen is registered as a voter.
The Commission needs approximately Shs700 billion to deliver the election but has also admitted to huge funding gaps. It told Parliament last week that money has been provided for some critical activities in the final phase of the roadmap.
The final phase involves the nomination of candidates, printing of ballot papers, campaigns, polling, tallying and declaration of results, among others. Parliament is currently scrutinising the budget for the Financial Year 2025/2026, which starts in July 2025 to June 2026.
The Auditor General has advised the Ministry of Finance, planning and economic development and Parliament which plays the allocation role to ensure funds to facilitate the activities are provided.