Museveni casts vote in Rwakitura

RWAKITURA - President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Thursday, cast his ballot at Kaaro polling station in Rwakitura, Kiruhura district in Western Uganda.

Museveni, also the National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential flagbearer, voted at about 11:30am, congratulating Ugandans for getting up early and exercising their constitutional right.

Officially, Thursday's polls opened at 7:00am and 4:00pm was the closure time, with the Electoral Commission imploring voters to arrive on time and exercise their constitutional and democratic right to elect their representatives.

Meanwhile, Museveni, after casting his ballot, said he would order for a probe into failure of the Biometric Voter Verification Kits (BVVK) machines.

The President, voted at about 11:30am, congratulating Ugandans for getting up early and exercising their constitutional right. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

“They didn’t want the machines to work.  This morning, I got up early and 6:30am, I rang Richard Todwong [NRM secretary general]. He was in Nwoya district checking on my agents. He said many of my agents had arrived, but we now had a problem with the machines.

Then I checked with Engineer Sheeba Kobutungi [head of the science unit, State House]. She said the machines had no problem, but some people in the EC delayed bringing the biodata so that it could be entered into the machine. That machine can only be operated by somebody who has been allocated to it. He is the only one who can open it,” said the President.

Museveni's remarks came after the Electoral Commission (EC) said it had temporarily suspended the use of BVVK in several polling stations after massive failures in different parts of the country.