Implementation
of the amended Local Government Act is frightening local politicians as the
Electoral Commission demarcates electoral areas.
The
Electoral Commission approved the revised summary Roadmap for the 2025/2026
General Elections early this month.
It then began the demarcation of
constituencies and electoral areas and the reorganisation of polling stations
on 6 August. The exercise for demarcation of the constituencies and electoral
areas closes this Friday 16th August.
Teams
comprising Electoral Commission Constituted team comprising Town Clerks, Sub
County Administrative Secretaries District planners, and Chief Administrative
Officers, are conducting the exercise.
They
have been splitting electoral areas, merging some, and abolishing others.
While
all seems to be moving on well, the Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament, Betty
Namboze Bakireke told Parliament, that her councilors are panicking fearing losing
electoral areas.
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Parliament
the Local Government Amendment Bill 2019 into an Act in early March 2020.
The Bill,
which was assented to by the President, amended the Local Government Act with
the provisions of the Constitution as amended by the Constitution
(Amendment) Act, 2018.
The
amendment provided for the creation of local government and magistrate units in
preparation for the election of 2026.
It
also provides for demarcation of electoral areas and prescribe the manner
of conducting campaigns. Namboze observes that the law sets limits on the
number of voters in an electoral area.
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Namboze
told the House the Electoral Commission is using data from the housing and
population census of 2014 instead of the recently concluded census. She is of
the view that the EC should have used data from the recent census.
“Mr.
Speaker after ten years, the population has changed. So if you go out to create
electoral areas, based on the 2014 population census, you are in essence already
rigging the elections,” she said.
The
Electoral Commission has reportedly explained that it could not use data from
the recently concluded census because the results are yet to be gazetted.
She
says with the changes, some councils will have their number of councilors
drastically reduced after the 2026 election.
“I
have been looking at some of my councils. Some of them now have nine
councilors. So if you have a council with nine councilors and four of them are
on the executive and three of them are chairpersons of committees, that means
that committees will now have no members,” Namboze stated.
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She
is of the view that while the Local Government Amendment Act 2020 was well-intended,
it appears as if it might cause absurdities in some districts and sub-counties.
“We
make laws but laws are not supposed to cause absurdities. When you see that, a
council has been reduced to a number that can constitute a council with its
organs, the best thing for the Electoral Commission to refer the matter back to
Parliament,” she prayed.
Justice
Minister, Norbert Mao agreed that the Electoral Commission should have consulted
with the political players.
“So this matter is critical. As I understand it,
the Hon member is stating that the Electoral Commission is perhaps using the
meaning of independence. The electoral Commission is Independent but it does
not mean that they act alone and they don’t act for themselves,” said Mao.
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Mao
believes that it is important that the political parties have an input in the ongoing
exercise.
“We
want to avoid gerrymandering. We don’t want accusations by those who will lose
the elections to claim that they lost because of the actions of the Electoral
Commission,” Mao stated.
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Many
MPS agreed that the concern by Betty Namboze has been raised by many councilors
across the country.
