CCEDU pledges to continue mobilising Ugandans after EC lifts ban

By George Mangula

Following the lifting of the ban on Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) ban to engage in political activities yesterday by the Electoral Commission (EC), the civil society organisation has now come out to pledge the continued sensitisation and mobilisation of the masses to participate in the country’s electoral process.

“CCEDU welcomes the Electoral Commission’s decision to lift the ban that had been imposed since July, 2018.  This is timely – especially considering that the roadmap to 2021 is out.  Now, CCEDU is going to re-engage and mobilize Ugandans to actively and meaningfully participate in the on-going and upcoming electoral activities,” Crispin Kaheru, CCEDU’s coordinator says in a brief to the media.

CCEDU was banned from the participation in electoral activities in July last year by the EC on allegations that the organisation had violated the guidelines set out for stakeholders involved in observation of the electoral processes in the country. The lifting of CEDDU’s suspension took effect on February 21, 2018.

Kaheru said citizens will be enabled to participate in processes such as; demarcation of electoral areas, by-elections and the on-going citizen registration for national IDs at sub county level– countrywide. Of course CCEDU is also going to observe these electoral milestones carefully with a view of ensuring that we ultimately improve the credibility of elections in Uganda.

He said some of the issues agreed upon between CCEDU and Electoral Commission include; streamlining communication around the elections that CCEDU observes as well as the EC has demonstrated commitment to developing guidelines on use of new media in elections for election observers.

“CCEDU and EC have also agreed that for each election, CCEDU will have a robust leadership structure for election observers that includes a Head of Mission, who will communicate the observations in a timely manner to the relevant stakeholders,” he said.

He said the lifting of the ban on CCEDU was a welcome development and pledged that CCEDU would remain the independent election observation and voter education outfit – in both form and substance.

According to the EC Chairman Simon Byabakama, the decision to list CCEDU’s ban on electoral activities was arrived at following a series of meetings held between the two sides.

Justice Byamukama said the new development is a result of a joint committee composed of members from the two sides who authored a report of recommendations that both sides will adhere to in their work.

“The report includes mutually binding recommendations, which both the Commission and CCEDU have committed to,” said Byabakama.

CCEDU is a broad coalition that brings together over 800 like-minded civil society organizations and over eight thousand individuals to advocate for electoral democracy in Uganda.

The overriding agenda of this coalition is to advocate and promote integrity, transparency and active
citizen participation in Uganda’s electoral process.