Three lessons learnt from the 2020 NRM primary elections

By David Byakutaga

An election is an event and as such it must be conducted within a time limit and for its successful implementation requires meticulous planning and scheduling.

LESSON 1: The need for professionalism

This applies to chore election activities plus those which are related to the chore ones. With regard to the NRM primaries, there was no serious planning and yet the Electoral Commission staff are the same people that organized the primaries in preparation for the 2016 elections.

Needless to point out, conducting an election at the national level, in political parties or in organizations like Makerere University Academic Staff Association MUASA, (in which Dr. Tanga Odoi was chairperson) require professional skills.

Therefore, an evaluation of the NRM primary elections should distinguish between the mess being created as a result of inefficiency and incompetence among the officials on one hand, and on the other, the mess being a result of a deliberate intention among the organizers to favour one side.

This distinction is important because sometimes, the losers in an election will sometimes wish to blame the organizers and the government of the day if the election is national.  

Secondly, the distinction is important if the organizers, as was the case with the NRM elections, are accountable to the party leadership which is willing to make improvements and ensure better results. One obvious pre-requisite for a credible election is the existence of a voters' register.

This was not the case hence the leadership of the party took a last-minute decision to allow all party members to vote irrespective of whether their names were on the register or not.

I happen to have been an observer in these elections because one of my friends contested for the position of flag bearer for Member of Parliament in one constituency.

About two weeks before elections, I requested for election regulations together with a register from the district registrar and he told me that there were no written regulations and that the register would be availed to candidates on the eve of Election Day and that was the official policy.

The response from the registrar was an exemplification of incompetency within the electoral commission because it was obvious that the commission officials did not understand the importance of a voters' register.

Against this background, the party leadership decided that all party members would be allowed to vote as long as they were party members resident within the village.

This decision was obviously made in good faith. With a little imagination creativity and innovation, the commission would have implemented this decision.

All they had to do was to ask the party executive committee comprising of all members at every village to compile a handwritten register of all members and this would not have taken more than two hours.

The compiled list would have been signed by the committee and then availed to the candidates through their polling agents. Needless to point out, in the village the people know who is who and it is not possible to include ghost voters or those from other villages.

When we organized the elections to the Constituent Assembly, we used handwritten registers compiled in the parishes. There were no biometric voter verification machines not even computers and yet the elections were held with few complaints.
The need for the commission staff to do their work professionally and transparently is critical in guarding against post-election violence. Reckless mistakes like the late delivery of election materials as was the case in Kampala and Wakiso districts must be avoided.

In its ruling on the Amama Mbabazi petition, challenging the Presidential elections the Supreme Court stated as follows; "It is the Court's finding that the Electoral Commission did not comply with its duty under Section 28 of the Presidential Elections Act. The failure to deliver polling materials to polling stations within such proximity to the Commission was evidence of incompetence and gross inefficiency by the electoral body" 
 
LESSON 2: The role of polling agents is critical
Many candidates including veteran politicians and these are many in the NRM, spent a lot of money on campaigns and neglected to recruit good polling agents who knew what to do. As suggested under lesson no.1, it is these polling agents who would have been responsible for ensuring that those whose names are on the register are genuine voters.

Most critical is the role of polling agents when results are announced.
The role of polling agents while election results are announced is defined in the Constitution of Uganda and related electoral legislation as detailed below;
In article 68 of the constitution, it stated that in-
i)   68(2)  "Immediately after the close of poll, the presiding officer shall proceed to count the ballot papers at the polling station and record the votes cast in favour of each candidate"
ii)  68(3)"A candidate is entitled to be present in person or through his or her representative or polling agents at the polling station throughout the period of voting, counting of the votes and ascertaining of the results of the poll."
iii)   68(4)"The presiding officer, the candidate, or their representatives…….. or their agents if any, shall sign and retain a copy of the:-
a)     polling station
b)    the number of votes cast in favour of each candidate ;
And the presiding officer shall there and then, announce the results of the voting at that polling station before communicating them to the returning officer."
On the basis of these provisions my advice to candidates as well as political parties has always been as follows;
i)   Ensure that there is an honest and trusted polling agent at every polling station. The agent must be prepared to stay at the polling station from the time voting commences up to the time, voting ends, ballot papers are counted and results announced.
ii)    The agents must be able to read and write in English.
iii)   The agents must observe the electoral laws applicable and avoid quarrels with the polling officials.

During the NRM elections at the polling station where I observed the count, the official had wanted to give the agents a copy of the results claiming that he had only one copy which would be sent to the registrar. However, when agents insisted he availed the copy.

At other polling stations, and this was reported in many parts of the country, the election officials altered the results and this was because the agents were not vigilant or in some cases they were paid sign blank forms to go away leaving the officials to alter the results.

At the polling stations where I observed the NRM elections, three polling agents had up to the time writing this article, not brought the candidate's copies of DR forms. 

I recall one incident in 1995 when I was part of the team which supervised a bye-election in Rushenyi County.

While tallying the results at 10:00 p.m. one declaration of results form was found missing and I led a team to look for it and we found it at the home of the presiding officer.

The form was had been signed by all the agents but it did not have the numbers of ballot papers for the candidates.

The presiding officer had planned to fill in the numbers in private but by the time we reached his home, he had not done so and this polling station was excluded from the tally.

This illustrates the critical role of polling agents and emphasizes the importance of having agents who are committed and who know what to do.

This is the only way to guard against changing of results.
It must be emphasized that since election results are announced at the polling station, in view of those present and the agents are given copies of forms which they will have countersigned, there must be no fear that the results will be changed during tallying.

What the commission does during tallying whether at the district or national level, is just simple addition of what appears on the DR forms and does not deserve the hype it is usually associated with.

It is even possible for a candidate or a political party to do a Parallel Vote Tally (PVT) which is simply an addition of number of ballot papers from all polling stations done by others in parallel to the tally done by the electoral commission.
The undermentioned should be noted regarding a PVT:
i)   a PVT is not illegal
ii)    whoever does it must  be careful and ensure the  totals are accurate
iii)   it must be derived from DR forms which are signed by the presiding officer who is an officer from the electoral commission.
iv) those doing it must avoid causing excitement but wait for the official announcement from the Electoral Commission which is by law compelled to do so within forty eight hours from the close of polling.
v)   DR forms can be used in court when the election is challenged. Below is an excerpt from the  ruling of  the Supreme Court  of Uganda  on Petition No. 01 of 2016 in which Amama Mbabazi challenged the 2016 Presidential  elections ;
"The petitioner alleged that contrary to the provisions of sections 33 and 48(4) and (5) of the Presidential Elections Act, his polling agents were chased away from the polling stations in many districts and as a result his interests at the polling stations could not be safeguarded. 

This is what the court stated in its ruling; "Having considered all the affidavits in support and rebuttal, we have found it difficult to believe that the absence of the petitioner's polling agents in the districts that were cited was caused by the changing away of his agents.

 When we looked at the Declaration of Results Forms of the Polling Stations where this allegedly happened especially in areas like Wankole, Kamuli we found that his polling agents actually signed the Declaration of Results Forms.

We also noted that this allegation would have been more credible if the polling agents in the polling stations allegedly involved had sworn supporting affidavits.
Other excerpts to support the critical role of polling agents are reproduced below;
In this Petition, the Petitioner in this case thus in paragraph 36(vi) and 37
36(vi) "From the above process, there was room for switching DR forms, switching results when purportedly tallying and doing all malpractices of rigging to alter results" 
37  " In this regard the Declaration forms used by the 2nd Respondent (EC) to declare results are essential and critical to determine whether the results are announced correspond to the Declaration Forms in possession of the 2nd Respondent vis-a-vis those in possession of the Petitioner and other candidates.

The Petitioner shall seek for their disclosure and discovery from the second respondent"
The Court's ruling was, "The Petitioner's team of lawyers and Data specialist did inspect the said documents at the offices of the EC.

They were subsequently given certified copies by the EC and by agreement copies of the same were exhibited in court.

The petitioner failed to produce those DR forms he said were in his possession so that he could make comparisons with the documents in court to establish any discrepancies. No material discrepancies were discovered or brought to the attention of the Court" 

 LESSON 3: Credible national broadcaster

In an environment where there has been a proliferation of private media houses partly resulting in an explosion of fake news, there is a need for a credible national broadcaster with nationwide coverage.

During the NRM elections, there was a lot of fake news much of it generated from private media houses.

This was exacerbated by the absence of a national broadcaster. This country must avoid a situation where fake election results are aired and if there is a national broadcaster in place with national coverage and it is credible, fake news and its sources would be ignored.

What is worse is for a national broadcaster to rely on fake news either because the personnel in the broadcaster are ignorant deliberately do so in order to support candidates of their liking.

In an article headed Uganda's Opposition Leader, Kizza Besigye arrested after  alleging Fraud in Elections, published on 22nd February 2016, the Associated Press reported as follows; "Besigye who had alleged that voting was rigged, had planned to visit the EC headquarters in Kampala on Monday in an effort to get more details on the results of the election."

I have always cautioned media personnel to guard against fake news during elections. An example is a belief the EC computer system can be hacked to change results.   

The computer system can of course be hacked. However, the back up against hacking election results whether real or perceived is the DR forms countersigned by polling agents.

Under Lesson 2, I have emphasized the importance of DR forms the genesis of which was the Constituent Assembly where I was one of the secretaries who recorded the proceedings.

There was an attempt by some CA delegates many of whom were in love with ICT, to delete the provision relating to DR form from the constitution saying that such a provision should not be put in the constitution as it would be rendered obsolete by modernization in election technology.

Professor Senteza Kajjubi representing Kyadondo North Constituency in the CA put up a very strong case in favour of retaining the provision saying that if there was anything the NRM government will be remembered for it is the provision relating to the recording of election results and giving hard copies to candidates' polling agents.

Professor Kajjubi's side worn the day and the provision was included in the constitution in 1995 and has now become part of many countries' election laws.

Those who remember Professor Kajjubi know that he was one of the veteran politicians who remembered a time when ballots would transport to and counted at a central place thus giving room for changing of results. 
The writer is a former employee of Electoral Commission