Chamber of commerce elections in Arua flop
Sep 25, 2016
According to the incumbent chairperson, Peter Jurua, there were different parties registering members like the standing committee which he heads that had registered 38 members
Uganda chamber of commerce elections that was planned this Saturday was yet again postponed due to the chaos that surrounded the organization of elections which was due to differences by members of the chambers
The elections have so far been postponed for the third time now
According to the incumbent chairperson, Peter Jurua, there were different parties registering members like the standing committee which he heads that had registered 38 members
He says the Uganda national chamber of commerce gave the different parties registration books together with receipts which confused the two parties, with his committee that is supposed to be the authentic committee that is eligible to receive the 40%
The elections shouldn't have flopped according to Jackson Atima the leader of the second camp saying that they registered over 70 members whereas the camp formed by the incumbent has over 30 members which totals to over 90 members
Atima says what caused the confusion was over 60% out of membership remittances to the secretariat of the chambers which is collected from members,assosciate members pay shs 1,000,000,Gold,500,000 shillings which qualifies a member to seek for position of chairmanship,250,000 for executive members, and ordinary members pay 110,000 shillings
He adds that the members of Jurua's camp wanted the 60% forwarded to the old executive which they declined to do
However the district commercial officer, John Ezumu says they called off the elections due to the chaotic occurrences but says the secretariat's position to direct the two camps to collect membership remittances was a grave mistake
He says the old executive should have been in charge of the collections and later handed it to election officials before elections are carried out
Due to the secretariat's position, this prompted the camp headed by the incumbent chairperson Jurua to stop the elections saying" they are not ready to take part in the elections''
Ezumu however says the two parties should solve their matters before they set the date for elections
Atima, the current vice chairperson of the chambers in Arua says they are ready to hold the elections such that Arua can equally have representation in the national chambers of commerce