Ugandans in US petition gov't over 2021 polls, national IDs

DIASPORA

KAMPALA - Ugandans in the Diaspora have petitioned the government to allow them to cast their vote in the US, during the forthcoming general election set for next year.

The Diaspora, also want the government to enable them to acquire National Identity cards. They have requested the government to send the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) officials to the US among other countries, to register and issue national IDs to Ugandans.

"We need these services brought closer to us and that is why we need to meet officials from internal affairs and foreign affairs. Imagine I stay in Chicago but I have to fly to Washington to pick an ID which is over 12 hours on the road," Henrietta Wamala, the President Uganda North American Association (UNAA) said.

Addressing journalists in Kampala, Wamala who was in the company of the UNAA special envoy to Uganda, Zephaniah Kiiza Sseninde and his deputy Isaac Ssebakijje, said they are set to meet the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, to discuss various issues affecting people in the diaspora, top on the agenda being the right to vote and acquisition of National IDs, ahead of the 2021 elections.

Defending their right to vote, Wamala noted that Ugandans in the diaspora bring in a lot of money in the form of remittances, thus the need to allow them to vote.

"We believe that being a community that remits so much money to our country, we are an important bloc and deserve to be heard and the only way citizens can be heard is by exercising their voting rights. We hope the government can look at that and see us as a viable constituency," she said.

 
However according to Jotham Taremwa, the spokesperson Electoral Commission (EC), for Uganda to allow people in the diaspora vote, there should be an enabling law.

"EC would have no problem with Ugandans in the diaspora voting. Unfortunately, there is no law allowing that. There is nothing the commission can do for them," Taremwa said.

He advised Ugandans living abroad, to petition parliament, to ensure that they are allowed to vote outside Uganda.

In their plea to the government, the Ugandans also want the government to ease the process of passport renewals which Wamala said is a tasking experience.

"The challenge of renewing Ugandan passports or applying for a new passport or National IDs is still big. There is also a problem with voting rights.  But we cannot vote because a national ID is a prerequisite and yet the process of acquiring one is very tiresome," Wamala said.

She added that UNAA is trying to work with the government to ensure that the IDs are easily accessible to their diaspora communities considering the fact that even minor transactions cannot be effected without a National ID.

Among other issues that they want the government to address is the land grabbing by scammers, which has caused many Ugandans in the diaspora to lose their land to land fraudsters.

Wamala noted that the people in the diaspora are losing their property in Uganda to land grabbers who exploit their absence to steal and encroach on their land.

They want the government to come up with a solution to protect their land so as not to lose it to land grabbers.

UNAA is the largest formal association of Ugandans in the Diaspora. The organization's main objective is to promote social, cultural and economic development of the Ugandan community in North America and beyond. The Ugandan community in North America has over 120,000 individuals.

 
It is set to hold its 32^nd convention on September 3^rd to 7^th 2020 in Hilton San Francisco Union square in California.   

Annually, the association which has a membership of 1392 brings together over 2500 people in a single convention.

Over the years, the association has given back home, by supporting different projects for improved health service delivery.

According to Wamala, among the many achievements, the association has impacted on social welfare of Ugandans including the construction and equipment of Terrewode women's community hospital in Soroti, a community hospital that specializes in the prevention, treatment, surgical correction and rehabilitation of obstetric fistula and its complications.