By Barbara Nansiimbi
The speaker of parliament Anita Among has informed members of parliament that the Electoral Commission will not be in position to interact with legislators as planned this week.
According to the Speaker, the house will send out messages to legislators on another date when the Commission will be available.
“I have been informed that most of the EC members have gone for the printing of ballot papers. We are going to discuss with the Commission and we will send you a message when the EC will be available and endeavour to come” she told the plenary session this afternoon.
The Speaker’s remarks followed matters raised on the floor by a line of legislators including the Leader of Opposition Joel Ssennyonyi demanding updates from the EC regarding the Biometric Voter Verification Kits, which majority legislators said they were green about particularly on its origin and functioning.
Ssennyonyi and other members suggested that these BVVK machines have in the past been used but they, according to them, failed, in addition to having network issues.
“The EC is asking for 469billion to create 15256 polling stations in just one and a half months remaining to the election. How can this be okay yet we have five years to plan for an election!” Ssennyonyi wondered.
He said the interaction between the EC and legislators is crucial as it would open up their minds and be able to propagate the message among their people, especially agents. He also questioned what will happen if the machines fail to work like it was the case in past elections.
“This is not an issue for the opposition alone, it concerns all of us. The other day, we heard our colleagues in NRM complaining that they were being rigged in the primaries. You also want to be sure that the process is fair, understandable, regardless of where you belong” he said.
In response, the speaker Anita Among backed the MPs and suggested a training session for the legislators on the use of the machines.
“Since we’re representatives of the people, can we organise for the EC to have an interaction with us so that we get to understand what the machines do, and how they are supposed to be used? So that we go out there able to explain to the people that this is what you expect at the end of the day” she said.
She asked the EC to come out clearly on the matter noting that this is its responsibility and not that of the government. She noted that the leadership of the government are all candidates, the reason the EC should take the lead.
