Kiggundu grilled over Ssembabule polls

Feb 05, 2009

A total of 48 Electoral Commission officials have been blacklisted for malpractice in the Ssembabule district 2006 general elections, the chairman, Badru Kiggundu, has said.

By Mary Karugaba

A total of 48 Electoral Commission officials have been blacklisted for malpractice in the Ssembabule district 2006 general elections, the chairman, Badru Kiggundu, has said.

The courts of law ruled that the area Woman MP elections, initially declared to have been won by Anifa Kawooya, were fraudulently conducted and ordered fresh elections.

Kiggundu said most of the blacklisted officials were presiding over polling stations.

He was appearing before the legal and parliamentary affairs committee to answer queries on election violence and malpractices raised by the Human Rights Commission in its reports to Parliament.

Kiggundu came under attack from MPs, who demanded to know what disciplinary action had been taken against officials, who had been implicated in election malpractices.

MPs put Kiggundu to task to mention the names of officials he had disciplined.

“Your officials have time and again been implicated in election malpractice. Have you investigated the complaints raised against them? What administrative action have you taken to clear the name of the Electoral Commission?” Nuwagaba asked.

Kiggundu at first hesitated to answer, but the MPs warned him against being illusive.

“All these reports are just allegations. When complaints are raised we discuss them and investigate. The onus is upon the complainant to sue,” he said.

The MPs also asked the commission secretary, Sam Rwakoojo, to explain allegations that he was involved in election malpractices in the just-concluded Ssembabule Woman representative by-elections.

Rwakoojo denied the allegations, saying although Ssembabule is his home area, he did not participate in the by-elections.

“In many cases, the reports are not correct. Yes I come from Ssembabule but where there is controversy, I distance myself. I never went to Ssembabule at all,” he said.

Kiggundu also informed the MPs that the commission was behind schedule for the 2011 general elections by six months.

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