Uganda readies for LC2 elections

Uganda is gearing up for the LC2 elections. According to the local government ministry, the LC2 elections will be conducted across the country on July 27.

Uganda held the first LC1 elections for the first time in 17 years on July 10. The LC1 leaders have already constituted their respective village committees, and are expected to have started business officially.

The individuals who were holding the LC1 offices and were either defeated or did not offer themselves for the recent elections are expected to have handed over offices to the new leaders.

The LC2 chairpersons will be elected by village committees, including the LC1 chairperson, on Friday.

"I appeal to all members of the voters to turn up in large numbers for these elections because these structures are very important in the governance of our country" the local government minister, Tom Butime, said during a press conference at Uganda Media Center in Kampala on Tuesday.

The LC2s are the courts of first instance in land matters under the law. "The LC2 is the court of first instance in cases involving land under the customary law and also an appellant court for other civil matters referred to it by the LC1 court," Butime said.

Once the LC2 structures have been established after the elections on Friday, the minister said, they will be used as significant vehicles for delivering government programmes such as Operation Wealth Creation and Youth Livelihood Programme.

The ministry said it is working with the Electoral Commission to conduct residual LC1 elections in villages where they did not take place on July 10. It explained that elections did not take place in some areas partly because the villages were new and some were locked in boundary disputes.

There are about 60,800 villages in the country, according to the electoral body. However, by the time the LC1 polls were conducted, the local government ministry had 60,426 villages on its database.