Mbarara receives ballot boxes, opposition candidates protest

2021 ELECTIONS   POLITICS

MBARARA - Candidates from opposition political parties in Mbarara city have protested the state in which the electoral materials were delivered to the Electoral Commission offices in Booma cell, Mbarara, arguing that some seals on black boxes were tampered with.

This comes after the Electoral Commission on Thursday afternoon delivered 195 black boxes containing ballot papers to Mbarara district ahead of January 14, general election.

Representatives from Political organisations, security led by RDC and civil society organisations were invited to witness the offloading of the ballot papers.

Those present were representatives from National Unity Platform (NUP), Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) whereas the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and independent candidates were not represented.

Bright Muhumuza, a NUP candidate vying for Mbarara city South member of parliament punched holes in the manner in which stakeholders were invited to witness the offloading and the type of cars which were used to deliver ballot papers.

Muhumuza faulted the EC for failure to use box body cars which can be locked easily with seals but opted for Fuso lorries with old tarpulins citing incompetence of the EC.

"I was so much disappointed when I saw two usual Fuso lorries with tarpulins carrying ballot papers without proper enclosure because the tarpulins were open. No wonder we found about 20 ballot boxes with tampered seals whereas others had one seal yet they were supposed to be two." Said Muhumuza.

He suspected that plans by a section of people to rig the election were manifested on the delivery of the voting materials.

"That's why I have instructed my team as NUP not to sign for the delivered materials as witnesses because we cannot witness theft and early rigging, they already had a bag full of new seals meaning they can easily remove the older seals and replace with new ones," added Muhumuza.

Manzi Munanura, an independent candidate vying for Mbarara city North also wondered why independent candidates were not invited to witness the exercise.

"Ï was so disappointed with the way the activity was handled because as I was heading to town, I saw so many people with a lot of deployment at EC's offices when I tried to access and inquire about what was happening, officials from EC told me that I was not invited because I don't have an organisation" Munanura explained.

He added that the conduct leaves a question whether they are heading for a free and fair election or a section of people have already predetermined the winners?

"I have already addressed the matter to the chairman Electoral commission seeking clarification on why independent candidates cannot be invited to witness the offloading of materials.

Mwetise Bintabala from ANT said they were not allowed to count the ballot papers in ballot boxes which they found with tampered seals.

Bintabala said they wanted to know if the number of the ballot papers was exact with that was quoted.

"Two black boxes with ballot papers had no seals completely but they did not allow us to count those ballot papers against those that were quoted including checking the seal numbers, so we suspect there is a sinister motive already but we shall keep strong" Bintabala added.

EC responds

Violet Atuhurra, Returning Officer for Mbarara City said that they received 195 ballot boxes for 195 polling stations within the city. 

Atuhurra admitted that there were ballot boxes with broken seals which she said got broken due to the bad roads while in transit.

"The way they are parked and of course during the movement from Kampala, some boxes fell and had their seals broken but the good thing is that every box had two seals (white and orange) and we only found two with completely broken seals whereas about 20 boxes, one seal would be found broken but we managed to replace them," explained Atuhurra.

On the issue of independent candidates, she explained that there is no way how they would invite all independent candidates since they just wanted representatives.

"These independents have no organisations and we could not invite them all here maybe next time when they get groups they will be invited," she said.