The Independent Electoral Commission has defended itself on the complaints from the public on the ongoing exercise of updating the voters’ register.

On Monday January 20th, the Commission kicked off the update and registration of the voters’ register across the country with the exercise expected to end on February 10th 2025.

However, since its commencement, several complaints have been raised from the public that among others include; inadequate registration kits, low voter turn up and the requirement of clearance letters from the District Internal Security Officers (DISOs).

While addressing journalist at the Commission’s headquarters in Kampala, the Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama defended the Commission on all these complaints explaining that regarding the inadequate registration kits, they requested for at least 5,000 registration kits from the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) but they were given only 2,703 kits.

For purposes of effective coverage within the set time they allocated 1 kit per sub country except in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts where there are dense populations, the kits were ordered to be used in a rotational form to cover all areas.

Regarding the low voter turnout, Byabakama noted that this exercise is not for all Ugandans to appear physically at the polling stations but rather for first time voters who need to be present physically and those who are already in the system can verify their names via the Commission’s website.

On the role of security letters from the DISOs, Byabakama noted that this recommendation letter is for only first time voters and is needed to verify citizenship but those transferring from one voter location to another it’s not a requirement because the person is already in the system.

He thus appealed to first time voters who want to be registered not to utilize this time and not to wait for last minute dashing.

By Olivia Nabaggala

24 Jan 2025

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