We are not responsible for conflicts over new constituencies — EC

The electoral commission (EC) has distanced itself from the conflicts and confusion that arose from the creation of new electoral constituencies and administrative units.

This was revealed by James Peter Emorut, the EC commissioner in charge of west Nile region during a regional stakeholders' workshop on the EC guidelines and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) on the conduct of election activities under COVID-19 in Arua city.

The workshop was organized for regional police commanders, district police commanders, resident district commissioners, army officers and the chief administrative officers. The other who attended were representatives of political parties, EC district registrars and district internal security organization officials.

Emorut said the EC has just finalised the countrywide exercise to demarcate the parliamentary constituencies. He said the move was to clearly define the areas of representation to Parliament by directly elected MPs."The EC relied on an instrument and recommendations that came from the local government.

The approval of the constituencies starts from the district councils, up to the Parliament. It is not the EC that demarcated the electoral areas.

It only works on what has already been approved by the respective district councils and Parliament," he said. Emorut said nomination of candidates, campaigns and polling day will be in accordance with the SOPs set by the health ministry, aimed at combating the spread of COVID-19.

He said there are 146 districts, 132 counties, 3,352 constituencies, 2,184 sub-counties and town councils, 10,595 parishes and 70,626 villages with 34,344 polling stations countrywide.

There are currently 17,658,527 registered voters in Uganda, 47.79% of whom are male.Jackson Higenyi, the regional elections officer for West Nile, said the commission is committed to achieving fair, inclusive and participatory electoral processes.He tasked the security operatives with ensuring that SOPs during the elections are observed.

Emorut added that the EC has secured a sh54m supplementary budget for procuring hand-washing facilities and infrared thermometer guns, among others.

William Labeja, the RDC of Moyo, was concerned about the facilitation of security forces during elections, which he said is often not budgeted for, yet the money allocated to the EC is supposed to cater for the welfare of security officials too.

Hajji Abdul Hakim Molli, the acting Forum for Democratic Change chairperson in charge of Arua was bitter about what he described as the discriminatory nature in which the Police and other security agencies implement COVID-19 guidelines.

He alleged that it is only the members of the Opposition who are asked to follow the guidelines.However, Julius Gobolo, the regional Police commander, North West Nile, there will be enough security personnel overseeing the election activities.