Civil society wants current EC disbanded
Mar 07, 2016
It does not help matters that the credibility of the voters register is doubted and the voter education was poor leading to over 5% of invalid vote
A group of 45 civil society organizations has demanded an urgent disbandment of the current Electoral Commission (EC) and a new one be instituted.
Speaking during a press conference on Monday, the Executive director of the Uganda National NGO forum, Richard Ssewakiryanga, said that the performance of the current EC led by Dr. Badiru Kiggundu is wanting in many areas.
"The late delivery of the polling materials to polling stations that were fewer kilometers away from the Commission is inexcusable." Ssewakiryanga said.
The Executive Director, Uganda National NGO Forum, Richard Ssewakiryanga (Left); the Anti-corruption Coalition of Uganda (ACCU) Executive Director, Cissy Kagaba (Center) and the Country Director, Actionaid Uganda, Arthur Larock (Right) during the Civil Society press briefing on Presidential and Parliamentary Elections at NGO head office in Kampala on Monday, March 07, 2016. Photo by Shamim Saad
He said that it does not help matters that the credibility of the voters register is doubted and the voter education was poor leading to over 5% of invalid votes.
"As civil society, we reiterate our longstanding call for the current EC to be urgently disbanded and a new one is constituted. The manner of its constitution has been defined in the citizen's compact on free and fair elections." Ssewakiryanga said.
Copying a leaf from the international observers, he asked the EC to release the full results and copies of the declaration results forms from all the polling stations to allow for an independent inquiry into the authenticity of some of the announced results.
Action Aid country director Arthur Larock condemned the purported use of illicit money and other material offers in the electoral process to bribe and compromise voters especial in rural areas which exhibited in the concluded elections.
The Citizen's Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) Coordinator, Crispy Kaheru, (Left) and the Executive Director, Uganda National NGO Forum, Richard Ssewakiryanga during the Civil Society press briefing on Presidential and Parliamentary Elections at NGO head office in Kampala on Monday, March 07, 2016. Photo by Shamim Saad.
He said that political parties and candidates that participated in the recent elections must publically account for the money used and declare the source of their election finance.
"Apart from being a legal requirement, the public need to know the source of the money used by most especially the presidential and parliamentary candidates to detect whether it was not the tax payers money" Larock said
He faulted the Electoral Commission (EC) for being unable to crack the whip under section 62 of the presidential elections Act
The Director of Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU), Cissy Kagaba, said that the concluded elections was never going to be free and fair from the start because the legal, institutional and operational environment in the build up to the exercise did not allow.
"Ignoring the citizens compact on free and fair elections where they made a wide range of proposals for fair elections by the executive and parliament to make the necessary amendment predicted the outcome" Kagaba said.
Civil society organization promised to cooperate with legitimate leaders, show solidarity with those facing injustice, focus on critical reforms, work for justice, healing the society and documentation for posterity.