The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Civil Society Organizations- CSOs operating in Teso have expressed concern over the absence of voter education in the country. The concerns come a week to the general elections scheduled for Jan 14th.
Voter education provides citizens with basic information on how to participate in elections. Usually, the Electoral Commission hires firms to conduct voter education across the country.
Benson Ekuwe, the Executive Director of Public Affair Center-Uganda says that they have not conducted any single voter education across the region. He explains that much as Non-governmental Organizations- NGOs had formed National Election Watch- Uganda (New-Uganda) to conduct voter education across the country, it was not done.
He notes that without voter education, Uganda might register the lowest voter turnout or increased cases of invalid votes.
Isaac Esalu, the head of programs at TADOBA Youth Foundation attributes the failure of voter education to the narrowing space given to NGOs and CSOs in election-related activities in the country. He cites the recent freezing of accounts belonging to Uganda National NGO Forum and Uganda Women Network- UWONET.
Last month, the government through Finance Intelligence Authority closed accounts of the two major NGO confederations on allegations of their involvement in terrorists’ activities. The CSOs indicate that the absence of voter education in this year’s elections could have been deliberate by the government.
Esalu says that they are constrained in delivering their activities related to the 2021 elections.
Christine Oder, another civil society activist in Teso says that voter education is now at the mercy of those with platforms on media and other gatherings. She however notes that politicians themselves have been rallying for high voter turnout in this election.
Currently, 146 officers recruited to carry out voter education and other related election activities in each sub-county across Teso are redundant after the government froze accounts of National NGO Forum and UWONET.
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