EC, own up and quit

THE ELECTORAL Commission has bungled the Local Government elections. Voting failed in several districts on Friday, the appointed day, due to failure by the Commission to deliver materials in time. Even when extended to Saturday, elections still flopped in many places. Constitutionally, the elections were to be held at least 60 days before the expiry of the term of the incumbent local government councils. The constitutional deadline passed on Saturday, yet several parishes have not voted. In Iganga district, voting continued yesterday. The question is, will the law be amended to allow voting in places that did not have elections? Or should all the elections be repeated? Of course, the Election Commission will easily assert that the elections took place on January 4 and were extended in areas that failed to beat the deadline. That explanation is partially plausible, hardly logical but crafted to circumvent legal provisions. But the truth is the Electoral Commission is inefficient. Election material should have been distributed country-wide by Thursday mid-night. Come rain or sunshine all the polling stations should have been ready to open on Friday 7 am. Hundreds of over enthusiastic voters braved the heavy downpour in several parts of eastern and central Uganda but were disappointed when they could not vote. Voting materials were not available at several stations, some had them but were insufficient and others were dispatched to wrong destinations. In some places voters’ names were missing from the register. The Electoral Commission should own up its mess. Mr. Aziz Kasujja, the Chairman and his team should be ashamed of the shoddy work. They could do a better service for the country to accept failure and quit. If you can not do the job, step aside for those who can!