Over 1 million new voters register
Jun 03, 2010
OVER 1.8m new voters have been registered since the beginning of the national voter update exercise on May 3, the Electoral Commission (EC) has said.
By Catherine Bekunda
OVER 1.8m new voters have been registered since the beginning of the national voter update exercise on May 3, the Electoral Commission (EC) has said.
The EC, in its roadmap for the 2011 general elections, targets about 3.5m new voters. There are already 10.5m in the national voter database. The exercise was extended for another 10 days from June 4 to 14.
The chairman, Badru Kiggundu, said a total of 1,895,034 voters had been registered at various centres across the country, but added that the figure was provisional as it only included data collected by May 26.
He was, however, optimistic that they would hit their target, but added that this depended on the voters, since registration was not compulsory.
Kiggundu appealed to Ugandans to register before the deadline, warning that there would be no more extension.
Kiggundu and his commissioners were addressing journalists at the EC headquarters in Kampala yesterday.
He said the 10-day extension would affect other activities on the roadmap, especially the display of the voter register, which was supposed to begin on July 20.
“We will have to extend it but not necessarily by ten days because we expect much more clean data to come in from the field,†the chairman said.
Kiggundu expressed his appreciation to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi for recently appealing to his Buganda subjects to go for the registration exercise.
He also thanked religious leaders who have offered their places of worship to act as registration stations.
In a separate interview, EC secretary Sam Rwakoojo told The New Vision that the 10-day extension would cost the commission an extra sh1.6b.
A total of sh800m will be spent on allowances for the 8,000 update officers, while another sh400m will be spent on transportation of the kits. About sh400m will be spent on charging the batteries used in capturing data, he added.
Rwakoojo clarified that the extension would not interfere with the nomination of candidates and the voting.
According to the EC roadmap, nomination for both presidential and parliamentary candidates is expected to begin in October this year. Voting should take place by February 2011.
The commissioners said registration was free to all eligible Ugandans, adding that anyone caught asking for money to register people will be prosecuted.
They were responding to recent media reports, which said EC officials in Kibaale district were asking for money from the public for quick registration.
Kiggundu noted that funds had been disbursed to districts to cater for the salaries of the field officials.
“All parish and sub-county supervisors, who submitted their accounts to the commission, should expect their salary for May,†he said.
OVER 1.8m new voters have been registered since the beginning of the national voter update exercise on May 3, the Electoral Commission (EC) has said.
The EC, in its roadmap for the 2011 general elections, targets about 3.5m new voters. There are already 10.5m in the national voter database. The exercise was extended for another 10 days from June 4 to 14.
The chairman, Badru Kiggundu, said a total of 1,895,034 voters had been registered at various centres across the country, but added that the figure was provisional as it only included data collected by May 26.
He was, however, optimistic that they would hit their target, but added that this depended on the voters, since registration was not compulsory.
Kiggundu appealed to Ugandans to register before the deadline, warning that there would be no more extension.
Kiggundu and his commissioners were addressing journalists at the EC headquarters in Kampala yesterday.
He said the 10-day extension would affect other activities on the roadmap, especially the display of the voter register, which was supposed to begin on July 20.
“We will have to extend it but not necessarily by ten days because we expect much more clean data to come in from the field,†the chairman said.
Kiggundu expressed his appreciation to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi for recently appealing to his Buganda subjects to go for the registration exercise.
He also thanked religious leaders who have offered their places of worship to act as registration stations.
In a separate interview, EC secretary Sam Rwakoojo told The New Vision that the 10-day extension would cost the commission an extra sh1.6b.
A total of sh800m will be spent on allowances for the 8,000 update officers, while another sh400m will be spent on transportation of the kits. About sh400m will be spent on charging the batteries used in capturing data, he added.
Rwakoojo clarified that the extension would not interfere with the nomination of candidates and the voting.
According to the EC roadmap, nomination for both presidential and parliamentary candidates is expected to begin in October this year. Voting should take place by February 2011.
The commissioners said registration was free to all eligible Ugandans, adding that anyone caught asking for money to register people will be prosecuted.
They were responding to recent media reports, which said EC officials in Kibaale district were asking for money from the public for quick registration.
Kiggundu noted that funds had been disbursed to districts to cater for the salaries of the field officials.
“All parish and sub-county supervisors, who submitted their accounts to the commission, should expect their salary for May,†he said.