The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The Electoral Commission (EC) has halted the process of organising Uganda’s Local Council (LC) 1 and 2 elections until they get full funding.
The chairman of the commission Badru Kiggundu while meeting members on Parliament’s Legal Committee today, said that the commission has decided to halt the exercise due to lack of funds.
Kiggundu said that of the sh37 billion needed for the polls, the ministry of finance has so far provided only sh7 billion which he says is not enough to conduct the elections countrywide.
Later in the plenary, Speaker Jacob Oulanyah directed Minister for Justice Kahinda Otafiire to inform the house in two weeks time when LC1 elections will be carried out.
This, after Otafiire had told parliament that he is waiting for the Ministry of Finance to tell him if there’s money for the LC1 elections
“I don’t want to tell lies, we don’t have money for LC1 elections. If you have money, then fund these elections,” he responded to opposition queries.
“It isn’t that government isn’t interested in carrying out LC1 elections, because democracy is number one on our agenda”
New Commission
Kiggundu also informed the committee that he is not open to the idea of having a commission represented by all political parties as this will affect timely decision making. He urged government to appoint new commissioners citing that apart from one commissioner whose name he has recommended for contract renewal, the rest will have to leave by November 17 and hence would not want a vacuum to be created when they leave.
