Museveni salutes EC, tells Ugandans to register for polls

By Francis Otucu

President Yoweri Museveni has commended the Electoral Commission for registering voters and also for extending the registration period to cater for those who had not registered.

“So, I appeal to you, register in the remaining days and register in the right place. I therefore call upon all of you to register, those who are Ugandan citizens and above 18, if you have not registered, go and do so but in the right place; where you originate or live currently,” he said, explaining his choice of words.

“If you go anywhere else, those registers will be audited. We shall send people who know the locals and if we find you did anything wrong, we shall charge you because it is an attempt to cheat and interfere with the power of the people. Why are you interfering with the power of the people? The logic of the registration areas is that if I reside in an area and the services are poor, I will suffer. Therefore if I elect a bad leader who does not address my problems, I will suffer. I will be hurting myself. It is therefore in my interest that I elect a good leader.” Museveni described voting as a medicine for treating Uganda from what it is suffering from.

“This voter’s register is “edaggala” (medicine) which the country takes every five years to treat itself from whatever it has been suffering from. When you mismanage it, it is like bringing water and diluting the medicine, it will not work. It will defeat the purpose,” he said.