The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Resistance Movement- NRM has asked it’s polling officials to be considerate and grateful that they have a job. The statement followed complaints from a cross-section of polling officials who are managing party primaries about the low pay, for the task.
Many raised concerns with the workload as seen in the parliamentary primaries held a week ago, as well as the local government primaries that were held on Friday.
Abdul Swamadu Baker, one of the presiding officers in Makindye who was in charge of St. Paul Primary School zone told URN that he is given 12,500 Shillings a day despite spending the entire day on his feet, under the scorching sun, or sometimes enduring heavy downpours.
Results from Swamadu’s zone and several others were later cancelled during the tallying process by the Makindye West head of elections Vincent Kavuma citing cases of malpractice involving candidates and polling officials.
The NRM communications manager Rogers Mulindwa says the complaints are uncalled for, especially since all deployed officials knew the rates long before they took up the jobs. He however hastens to add that the party is doing everything possible to provide what is needed by the officials amidst economic hardships.
Meanwhile Daniel Kazibwe one of the candidates who took part in yesterday’s lord mayoral race says that in the absence of adequate funding, candidates are left to facilitate their agents which becomes a heavy financial load for them to bear. He adds that poor facilitation to election officials is a loophole that needs to be bridged, to avoid temptations of vote-rigging and other forms of malpractices.
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