Odoi explains missing names in Bunyangabu NRM election
Aug 23, 2017
“My staff would go to villages but people would say that they are not interested. You cannot cane an adult to go and register”.
The NRM national electoral chairperson Dr Tanga Odoi has disclosed that a good number of people in Bunyangabu did not cast their vote during the party primaries Tuesday because they did not bother to update their names in the yellow books.
"People get excited when voting starts but don't get bothered when the process of election kicks off. Today's election in Bunyangabu is the end tile of the process which started by registering voters, verifying the register and displaying the names which most people were not interested in," Odoi stated.
A man casting his votes
He explained that "my staff would go to villages but people would say that they are not interested. You cannot cane an adult to go and register".
He however admitted that in some villages of Bunyangabu district, the voters registers were marliciously handled during the update exercise.
"It beats logic that 1000 people have come back to a village whose register initially had only 300 people voters," Odoi said.
Ballot material being guarded by police during a heavy downpour
He also dismissed claims that defense minister Adolf Mwesige had tampered with the voter registers by deleting out some of the electorates.
"We have two ministers here who have been supporting different camps. Both are NRM but unfortunately they have been fighting one another," he said.
"This is what has brought tension in some areas and also encouraged politics of ethnicity," he added.
In some parts, voting was in the afternoon affected by heavy down pour which later on normalized and the voting process continues.
Dr. Tanga Odoi interacts with the electorates during voting in Bunyangabu
Odoi was spotted on a number of polling stations in the district monitoring the electoral process during the day and assuring voters of a free and fair election.
"The only thing we must guard is the percentage of error. I want to call upon you to go and vote. No one will influence the outcome of this election," Odoi told electorates at Kibito.
By 6:00PM, supporters of James Mugarama had already taken to the streets of Kibito town council celebrating an early win of the election.
James Mugarama supporters celebrate