High turnout, technical glitches in LC3 elections

Voting for the LC3 chairpersons in Bundibugyo town council was postponed after it was discovered that one of the candidates, Tedson Balyegonza, was missing on the ballot paper.

“Voting of the parish councillors went on, but that for the LC3 chairpersons was stopped and a new date will be announced after we have sorted out the matter,” Robert Kunihira, the Bundibugyo returning officer, said.

Tedson Balyegonza told New Vision on Wednesday that he was fully nominated by the Electoral Commission.

“I am equally surprised, seeing that I am missing on the ballot yet I was nominated and I have my documents. I want to encourage my supporters to be strong because I am still in the race and I have not been bought by any other candidate,” Balyegonza said.

Hassan Baguma, the NRM flag-bearer, said they will drag the Electoral Commission to court in order to compensate them because they had incurred a lot of expenses.

“I am not happy at all, the whole voting process for the town council would have been cancelled,” Jane Kemigisa, a resident of Kakogha in Bundibugyo town council, said.

John Baluku, a resident of Bumadu parish, said people have been demoralised and that most of them have gone back home, because their interest is in the LC3 chairpersons, and not the councillors.

Ibanda

Julius Musinguzi, a Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) member contesting to represent Kyaruhanga ward at Kagongo Division council in Ibanda Municipality in the ongoing division elections, claimed that he was transferred to St Benedicts Primary School polling station, which is in Ibanda South constituency, by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Musinguzi said he voted at Trinity Nursery School polling station in Ibanda Municipality, in the past elections.

“I contacted the district returning officer and he promised to give me the way forward in two hours (that was around 9:30am).

“However, he has not said anything so far. But I want the election to be stopped so that this mistake is solved,” Musinguzi told New Vision at Muginda polling station, where he was inspecting the exercise.

However, the district returning officer, Dan Ruhemba, dismissed the claims, saying Musinguzi has always voted from Ibanda South and was expected to transfer to the municipality, which he did not do.

“He is a candidate in the Municipality, but a voter in Ibanda South. He even did not vote from here (municipality) during the presidential elections,” the official said.

Katakwi

The voter turnout for sub-county chairpersons and councillors in Katakwi district was high, compared to the recent LC5 elections.

Nearly half of the voters had turned out for voting by midday in most polling stations visited by the New Vision.

Although some presiding officers attributed the high turnout to the mobilisation of voters, New Vision learnt that most of the voters were being ferried to the polling stations by boda boda motorcycles hired by candidates.

At Getom sub-county with four candidates for the LC3 chairperson seat, a boda boda cyclist said an aspiring candidate had paid him full day to ferry voters to Getom Primary School polling station.

At Aliakamer Primary School polling station in Katakwi subcounty, over 265 voters out of 716 registered voters had cast their votes by midday. Katakwi has 16 sub-counties and four town councils.

Isingiro

Imam Makumbi, the Vice- President of the Democratic Party (DP) for western Uganda and LC3 chairperson candidate for Masha sub-county in Isingiro district, has vowed to take the EC and the security agencies, including the Police and the army, to court.

Makumbi said the Police and army who were deployed at every polling station in Isingiro scared his supporters.

In Isingiro South, there were complaints from voters about security (Police and army), harassing and chasing the voters from the polling stations, especially at Rugarama and Nyamabaare polling stations in Kamubaizi, Kikagate subcounty, Isingiro district.

Gulu

Failure of the biometric machines delayed the start of the exercise at Angaya Health Centre 3 polling station B-Z in Unyama sub-county, Gulu district.

After consultations and further guidance, the presiding officer, Emmy Otim, finally kicked off the voting at 9:15am.

In accordance with the health ministry guidelines, every polling station had facilities for washing hands at the entrance, although some of the voters were not wearing masks.

At polling station A-A, Akello Agnes said she decided to partake in the exercise because she wants to see development in her region.

At Angaya Health Centre 3 polling station B-Z, the voting exercise went on peacefully, despite the biometric machine glitches. Gulu district has 11 sub-counties with 47 parishes and 92 polling stations.

Yumbe

LC 3 elections in six polling stations in Lodonga sub-county, Yumbe district, delayed until 11:25am.

The affected polling stations were from Nyori parish with four polling stations and Yumele parish, where two out of three were affected.

The delay was caused by the protests by the EC officials in the sub-county over unpaid allowances and facilitation.

According to Taliban Jamal, the presiding officer at Kenyanga Primary School polling station, they have not been paid their facilitation and exercise allowances. He also said they have not been issued their appointment letters for the LC3 and LC5 elections.

At around 11:30am, Aziz Olekua, the sub-county supervisor came, saying he received sh3.7m instead of the expected sh4.8m.

The Yumbe district returning officer, Kennedy Munduga, also told the officials to resume their duty, saying other differences would be sorted.

At exactly 12:05pm, they resumed duty.

Kole

Voting for LC3 chairpersons for Bala sub-county, Kole district was halted. There was a mixup of candidate photographs on the ballot papers for Bala town council and the sub-county.

Voting started well in most polling stations in Bala sub-county before it was realised that the photograph for a candidate in the sub-county instead appeared in Bala town council.

The voting for the LC3 chairpersons, according to EC, will be held on a date to be communicated.

Rukungiri

Rukungiri district NRM chairperson Jim Muhwezi said: “In the last 20 years, people of Rukungiri have been in opposition and they did not gain anything in opposing the government, which is why they have turned back to NRM.”

Muhwezi also attributed the good performance of the NRM in last month’s polls in Rukungiri to the fact that Kizza Besigye did not participate.

Bugiri

Elections for LC3 chairpersons and their councillors in Bugiri district were conducted amid complaints from opposition-leaning contestants of harassment of their supporters by security personnel.

The FDC flag-bearer for Mayuge town council, Abdala Magumba, said 10 of his supporters were rounded up by security personnel on the eve of elections and taken to unknown destinations.

Henry Dhikusooka, a NUP flag-bearer for Muterere town council, said security personnel intimidated his supporters.

Amina Namukose, a presiding officer at Buwolya mosque polling station in Budhaya sub-county, said by 12:00pm, only 23 people had turned up to cast their ballot, out of the expected 354 registered voters.

Nebbi

Polling officials manning the different polling stations in Nebbi have described the turnout of voters as the worst.

Many polling stations hardly had 100 voters to cast their ballots by midday, despite the huge number of voters in the register.

He said by 4:00pm, 126 voters out of 869 registered voters had voted at Nebbi Public Primary School polling stations.

Michael Arinaitwe, the Nebbi district returning officer attributed the low turnout to lack of interest among the voters on the lower council positions.

Kiboga

Kiboga town council LC3 chairperson Suleiman Ssekiwunga, the incumbent and the NRM candidate, survived a freaky road accident in Kiboga town council on Hoima Road.

According Bedijo Ssemanbo, an eyewitness, Ssekiwunga was riding a motorcycle when he rammed into a Toyota Harrier.

Ssekiwunga sustained serious injuries and was admitted to Kiboga Main Hospital.

He was later discharged and headed to Buzibweera B polling station to cast his ballot.

The incident affected Ssekiwunga’s planned campaign schedules.

Kagadi

The Police in Kagadi on Tuesday detained and released on Police bond the Pacwa sub-county chief, Peter Junior Katusabe, over alleged inciting of violence, assault and engaging in active partisan politics.

Steven Kamar, the Kagadi district police commander, said Katusabe’s arrest on Tuesday, followed public complaints over his continuous involvement in active partisan politics in Ruteete sub-county in the LC3 elections.

“We arrested Katusabe following complaints from the public who accused him of indulging in partisan politics. He has recorded a statement and we have released him on Police bond,” Kamar said.

Kamar noted that according to section 3 of the Public Service Standing Order and the Pensions Act 2010, any civil servant staff intending to participate in politics must resign his job first, to engage in private programmes.

However, Katusabe denied allegations of engaging in partisan politics, inciting violence and said some people who do not wish him success in his public service career were spreading the rumours.