IN THE PICTURE ABOVE: Aritua addressing participants during the launch of the
report in Kampala recently

Political experts have given the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Police tips on averting election-related violence as the country gears up for next year’s general election.
Perry Aritua, the executive director of Women’s Democracy Network-Uganda Chapter, said the EC must be proactive, issue directives, but communicate more often with the presidential  candidates.
“Research shows that when people feel they have been excluded, they are not being listened to, they express that dissatisfaction through violence,” she said.
This was during the launch of a preliminary report by the Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring on the 2021 precampaign spending by political parties in Kampala recently.
“The EC should re-strategise in terms of stepping up its communication. They should also ensure that when things are not going well, they recall the major actors and forge a way forward,” Aritua said.

She said when, for instance, violence escalates, the EC should summon the candidates and forge a new way forward instead of saying they have not received complaints.
Aritua also said the EC should explain how Ugandans are going to vote.
“There is a lack of direction in terms of how we are even going to vote; are we going to vote using the national IDs or not? So the element of lack of information by its nature creates suspicion,” she said.
Aritua also called upon the Police and other security agencies to ensure that they are seen to apply the law and standard operating procedures (SOPs) meant to combat COVID-19 equally among the contenders.
She said this will enable people to respect authority. 
“If people see that you are not being fair, they, unfortunately, take the law into their own hands,” Aritua said.
Prof. Sabiti Makara, a senior lecturer in the department of political and public administration at MakerereUniversity, said the Government and the EC are right to underscore the importance of observing the laws and SOPs, but they are being applied selectively.

Makara

He also said it is the responsibility of the EC to ensure that every presidential candidate gets equal space even in the media.
“The EC should have bought space for every presidential candidate and given them at least one day in a week so there is equal opportunity,” he said.