Kampala- The Electoral Commission have denied claims by the leader of Opposition that crime preventers are being used to “alter” the voters register.
Yesterday, Mr Wafula Oguttu posted on his official Facebook page how he got a briefing from the a group of crime preventers on how they are combing villages singling out supporters of especially FDC and NRM in an attempt to influence their voting on polling day. “…FDC members so far identified are being invited to meet officials of Museveni campaign task force and to be given money to leave FDC,” the post read in part.
Mr Taremwa noted that: “The register is supposed to help candidates know who their voters are, where they are and where they will be voting from. How they use those registers does not concern us,” he said.
Mr Oguttu further said: “This time round, the LC1 chairs have been excluded from the recruitment process because there are some chairpersons who do not support Mr Museveni’s 2016 presidential bid. If the Opposition in Uganda is not bewitched, it is imperative that they come up with a coordinated effort and demand a halt to this madness.”
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga was not taking calls. Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango referred the matter to the Security Ministry saying it was a “misdirected inquiry.” It was not possible to get a comment from the Minister for Security Karooro Okurut as her mobile phone was switched off. However, Col Shaban Bantariza, deputy government spokesperson says the government he serves and trusts cannot infringe on the duties of the EC because it is aware of the chaos that could arise from recruiting incompetent people.
He added that people going to manage the voting exercise must be tested, proved and competent enough. “Therefore, the Diso and Gisos have no role as far as the recruitment of presiding officers and polling assistants is concerned.”
He described the issue of deleting and transferring names of some voters by crime preventers as a total lie and baseless allegation.
That EC spokesperson equally rebuffed the claims. “We have released a programme of recruitment, advertised the jobs in national newspapers and a process of recruitment is going to start. How then can someone say we are going to only be a given a list from the security agencies. That allegation does not hold water,” Taremwa said.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
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