Unfinished business in NRM primaries
Sep 18, 2010
THE National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Electoral Commission (EC) officials are concerned that a delay in concluding the party’s primaries is affecting other programmes like the mobilisation of supporters ahead of the general elections.
By John Semakula
THE National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Electoral Commission (EC) officials are concerned that a delay in concluding the party’s primaries is affecting other programmes like the mobilisation of supporters ahead of the general elections.
Lydia Wanyoto, a commissioner, said: “We are behind schedule. According to our Road Map, the primaries are supposed to have closed. We are now supposed to be mobilizing our supporters ahead of next month’s nominations.â€
Wanyoto noted that despite being behind schedule, the commission still had to conduct primaries in some areas including Entebbe Municipality, Kapchorwa district and Mukono Municipality.
At the same time, Wanyoto added, the commission has to handle over 600 petitions filed by the losers in the primaries.
Felistus Magomu, the chairperson of the NRM EC, said they would swiftly handle the petitions to avoid being bogged down.
Most petitioners claim the elections were rigged and want the EC to nullify the results, order a recount or organise fresh elections.
The delayed primaries in some areas have also had negative consequences.
In Mukono Municipality last week, supporters of George Sentongo an aspirant for the mayorship, threatened to demonstrate over the delayed primaries.
Sentongo and his supporters said
they wanted to vent out their anger against the failure of party’s EC to organise the primaries. “I have wasted a lot of money paying my agents’ allowances and preparing their meals. Postponing the exercise means I will pay for the same services again,†he said.
It took the intervention of the district Police commander, Alphonse Musoni, to convince Sentongo that the solution to his problem was not a demonstration. Musoni warned Sentongo that idlers would use the demonstration to their advantage and turn it violent.
Meanwhile, Sentongo claimed that the delayed primaries were a ploy orchestrated by his opponents to rig the elections. Sentongo is standing against Godfrey Nsubuga the former Goma sub-country chairman.
The NRM primaries for Mukono
district took place on Wednesday but elections for the mayorship in the new municipality were not conducted because voting materials were not delivered.
In Kapchorwa, the elections were not held because voting materials were not enough. In addition, politicians feared that the polls could be manipulated with the current system which requires members to vote by writing the names of their candidates on ballot papers.
So many voters in Kapchorwa do not know how to read or write, that the aspirants feared they could be manipulated by polling agents who are required to help them. As a result, the aspirants demanded that the exercise be conducted only after the pictures of the contenders are put on the ballot papers.
The aspirants gave the party’s EC up to the end of this month to conduct fair elections or to let all of them contest in next year’s general elections on individual merit.
In West Budama North, Paya and Sopsop sub-counties have not voted due to failure to deliver election materials. Voting has been postponed several times and is expected to take place today. The delay in the two sub-counties has affected the release of the results for the other contenders.
In the four sub-counties where voting took place on August 30, former presidential legal advisor Fox Odoi was ahead of the incumbent, William Oketcho.
In Tororo County, results for the area MP have not been declared for over a week after reports of ballot stuffing emerged from Mela sub-county on the Uganda-Kenya border. It is alleged that on election day, armed thugs crossed from Kenya, dispersed voters and stuffed ballot boxes with pre-marked ballot papers.
Results at the ended of the exercise showed that the number of ballots cast far exceeded the number of voters. Moreover, the NRM flag bearer will have an uphill task of unseating the incumbent, Geoffrey Ekanya of the Forum for Democratic Change.
In Kabale Municipality, the tight race between the incumbent, Serapio Rukundo and Andrew Baryayanga became more tense when voting materials failed to reach 13 villages.
Rukundo was leading and the registrar, Moris Kaitaba, declared him winner even without the votes from the 13 villages. But Baryayanga and his supporters accuse Rukundo of rigging.
They allege that Rukundo’s camp was involved in vote stuffing at Rushoroza polling station which has 98 voters but registered 300 votes at the end of the exercise. Some people have even threatened to quit the party if the issue is not resolved.
Baryayanga’s camp also accuses Rukundo and the district registrar of intentionally delaying the distribution of materials to the areas where Rukundo is weak.
Whereas in Rukundo’s strongholds the materials were delivered as early as 8:00am, where he had little support the materials arrived as late as 3:00pm, yet voting was up to 6:30pm.
In Entebbe Municipality, elections for the mayoral aspirant have not been conducted. On the first day they were to take place, the box containing the ballot papers was found open and some of its contents missing.
The elections were postponed but on the new polling date, materials were not delivered. Some politicians think it is a ploy to rig the elections in favour of one of the candidates.
THE National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Electoral Commission (EC) officials are concerned that a delay in concluding the party’s primaries is affecting other programmes like the mobilisation of supporters ahead of the general elections.
Lydia Wanyoto, a commissioner, said: “We are behind schedule. According to our Road Map, the primaries are supposed to have closed. We are now supposed to be mobilizing our supporters ahead of next month’s nominations.â€
Wanyoto noted that despite being behind schedule, the commission still had to conduct primaries in some areas including Entebbe Municipality, Kapchorwa district and Mukono Municipality.
At the same time, Wanyoto added, the commission has to handle over 600 petitions filed by the losers in the primaries.
Felistus Magomu, the chairperson of the NRM EC, said they would swiftly handle the petitions to avoid being bogged down.
Most petitioners claim the elections were rigged and want the EC to nullify the results, order a recount or organise fresh elections.
The delayed primaries in some areas have also had negative consequences.
In Mukono Municipality last week, supporters of George Sentongo an aspirant for the mayorship, threatened to demonstrate over the delayed primaries.
Sentongo and his supporters said
they wanted to vent out their anger against the failure of party’s EC to organise the primaries. “I have wasted a lot of money paying my agents’ allowances and preparing their meals. Postponing the exercise means I will pay for the same services again,†he said.
It took the intervention of the district Police commander, Alphonse Musoni, to convince Sentongo that the solution to his problem was not a demonstration. Musoni warned Sentongo that idlers would use the demonstration to their advantage and turn it violent.
Meanwhile, Sentongo claimed that the delayed primaries were a ploy orchestrated by his opponents to rig the elections. Sentongo is standing against Godfrey Nsubuga the former Goma sub-country chairman.
The NRM primaries for Mukono
district took place on Wednesday but elections for the mayorship in the new municipality were not conducted because voting materials were not delivered.
In Kapchorwa, the elections were not held because voting materials were not enough. In addition, politicians feared that the polls could be manipulated with the current system which requires members to vote by writing the names of their candidates on ballot papers.
So many voters in Kapchorwa do not know how to read or write, that the aspirants feared they could be manipulated by polling agents who are required to help them. As a result, the aspirants demanded that the exercise be conducted only after the pictures of the contenders are put on the ballot papers.
The aspirants gave the party’s EC up to the end of this month to conduct fair elections or to let all of them contest in next year’s general elections on individual merit.
In West Budama North, Paya and Sopsop sub-counties have not voted due to failure to deliver election materials. Voting has been postponed several times and is expected to take place today. The delay in the two sub-counties has affected the release of the results for the other contenders.
In the four sub-counties where voting took place on August 30, former presidential legal advisor Fox Odoi was ahead of the incumbent, William Oketcho.
In Tororo County, results for the area MP have not been declared for over a week after reports of ballot stuffing emerged from Mela sub-county on the Uganda-Kenya border. It is alleged that on election day, armed thugs crossed from Kenya, dispersed voters and stuffed ballot boxes with pre-marked ballot papers.
Results at the ended of the exercise showed that the number of ballots cast far exceeded the number of voters. Moreover, the NRM flag bearer will have an uphill task of unseating the incumbent, Geoffrey Ekanya of the Forum for Democratic Change.
In Kabale Municipality, the tight race between the incumbent, Serapio Rukundo and Andrew Baryayanga became more tense when voting materials failed to reach 13 villages.
Rukundo was leading and the registrar, Moris Kaitaba, declared him winner even without the votes from the 13 villages. But Baryayanga and his supporters accuse Rukundo of rigging.
They allege that Rukundo’s camp was involved in vote stuffing at Rushoroza polling station which has 98 voters but registered 300 votes at the end of the exercise. Some people have even threatened to quit the party if the issue is not resolved.
Baryayanga’s camp also accuses Rukundo and the district registrar of intentionally delaying the distribution of materials to the areas where Rukundo is weak.
Whereas in Rukundo’s strongholds the materials were delivered as early as 8:00am, where he had little support the materials arrived as late as 3:00pm, yet voting was up to 6:30pm.
In Entebbe Municipality, elections for the mayoral aspirant have not been conducted. On the first day they were to take place, the box containing the ballot papers was found open and some of its contents missing.
The elections were postponed but on the new polling date, materials were not delivered. Some politicians think it is a ploy to rig the elections in favour of one of the candidates.