2021 POLLS: 1.3 million to miss voting, Parliament blamed

By Francis Otucu

Over 1.3 million Ugandans will miss the chance to cast their vote in the forthcoming 2021 general polls, electoral experts have warned.

The warning emerged during a meeting in which Electoral Commission officials led by their boss Justice Simon Byabakama held with election observers in the country. Speaking at the meeting, the experts noted that the group at risk is that of people who are not yet 18 but will have attained the same age by the time the country goes to polls in 2021.

Crispin Kaheru, an independent electoral expert, expressed worry that despite this fact being well known by electoral policy makers, there seems to be no plan to accommodate such voters to enable them to cast their votes in the coming election.

“Available demographic statistics show that, about 3,800 Ugandans are either born or turn 18, every single day.  That means that an estimated 1.3M will be 18 by 2021,” Kaheru said. His concern was echoed by Dr. Miria Matembe, the Board Chairperson of Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU). In her submission, Matembe was shocked that the Electoral Commission did not consult from stakeholders like CCEDU yet they would have helped to highlight such oversights.

She thus tasked the Electoral Commission to explain how they have planned for such voters who are at risk of disenfranchisement.

“We thought we could come and present our views to the Electoral Commission regarding the update of the voter’s register. There is a citizen who turns 18 every other day. As a commission how are you going to ensure they are not denied a chance to vote?”  Dr. Matembe queried.

In response, however, EC Chairperson Justice Byabakama defended the commission, instead blaming parliament for ignoring their (EC’s) plea to change the law to accommodate such category of voters.

He explained that in 2014, they presented before Parliament the need to amend the law to allow people who turn 18 to register and vote even a month to the elections but Parliament did not find the suggestion worthy. As such, he said, Electoral Commission is operating based on its mandate as stipulated in Article 61(2) of the constitution. The law gives them the discretion to determine the cut-off date for voter update. This discretion, Justice Byabakama said, is determined by a number of factors. These include among others, the need for proper planning, budgeting for planned activities and printing of sufficient ballot papers for all voters — which printing is usually done abroad. According to Kaheru, however, a corresponding effort aimed at registering these citizens on a day-to-day basis would not hurt. “In fact, the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) should consider establishing permanent registration points at Sub County or Parish level or in Health Facilities, to make it accessible for more and more Ugandans to continuously sign up for IDs. NIRA owes it to every Ugandan to ensure that getting a national ID is safe, secure, hassle-free and available to all the right people,” he added. A google search shows that 15, 277, 198 (67.61%) registered to vote in the 2016 general polls. However, only 10, 329, 131 turned up. Experts however say the voter eligibility number is expected to grow, whether those 18 will be allowed to vote or not.