Women urged to participate in Local Council elections

Oct 25, 2017

“The registration exercise will begin this week on 26th to 30th October, 2017 and I am requesting all women aged 18 and above to embrace the process and have themselves registered in the villages where they reside."

 

ELECTIONS|LOCAL COUNCIL

The women council and committee elections right from the village to national level will be held on November 14, 2017.

In an interview with New Vision TV on Wednesday, the Chair person for National Women's Council and Member of Parliament Hellen Asamu, called upon all women across the country to register at village level to be able to participate in the elections process.

"The registration exercise will begin this week on 26th to 30th October, 2017 and I am requesting all women aged 18 and above to embrace the process and have themselves registered in the villages where they reside. Those who will not be registered will be automatically excluded from the entire election process," said Asamu.

Asamu also noted that elections will be conducted through lining up behind the nominated candidates, representative, portrait or symbol. She said that sh4b has been allocated to the entire process.

She also called upon women to apply for the women entrepreneurship fund to get rid of poverty.

Voting by lining up behind the candidates for Local Council I and II was adopted in 2014 after Parliament overwhelmingly endorsed it during the debating and passing of the Local Government Amendment Bill 2014.

Uganda has not conducted elections for LCI (village) and LCII (parish) for the last 15 years. The last one having been held in 2001 before the country shifted from the one-party Movement system to the multiparty system of governance.

"Women councils are very important when it comes to implementation of Government programmes. There are programmes like the Uganda women entrepreneurship programme, it is the woman's council to select the beneficiary, without their signature, you cannot get funds," said Colins Mwijuka, the national women's council acting  Executive Director.

The election process kicks off this week on 26th October, 2017, the display of the village Women's register will be done between 31st October and 1st November,2017, the nomination of candidates for five(5)members shall be conducted on 6th and 7th November, 2017.

No academic qualifications shall be required and nomination is free of charge. Campaigns will be held from 8th to 13th November 2017.

Elections at district and national level will be by secret ballot.

"After women polls, there will be parish/ward,sub-county/town/municipal Division, district/city and national elections. The women's councils are guaranteed by an act of law and they are important because they provide an avenue through which women at all levels are effectively reached," noted Mwijuka.

Well-established structures from the village to the national level act as avenues for advocating for the wellbeing of women in Uganda.

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});