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Tuesday, 28th January 2025
The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa has referred the statement on issues emerging out of the ongoing general update of the national voter’s register to the committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for further scrutiny.
The statement was presented by the Deputy Attorney General, Hon. Jackson Kafuuzi during the sitting of the House on Tuesday, 28 February 2025 but lawmakers punched holes in the statement.
Tayebwa then guided the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to interface with the Electoral Commission (EC), Uganda Bureau of Standards (UBOS), National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA and report back to the House on Tuesday, 04 February 2025.
“Through the committee’s report, we can have clear recommendations and we shall debate it and this will give us better resolutions,”he said.
Update of the national voter’s register started on 20 January 2025, ahead of the 2026 general elections and in his statement to Parliament, Kafuuzi said that since then, some technical issues including faulty machines have been reported at some stations.
“The equipment being used was first procured for the 2014/2015 mass enrolment (registration) exercise, under the National Security lnformation System Project, the predecessor of NIRA. This explains the reported cases of breakdowns,” he said.
Kafuuzi added that whilst the EC requires 5,000 kits to conduct the exercise, only 2,703 are available.
“The commission is conducting the exercise using kits provided by the National Identification and Registration Authority. The distribution has been made based on the sub counties, except for Kampala Capital City, Wakiso and Mukono districts which have been allocated additional kits per parish,” said Kafuuzi.
According to the 2026 general elections’ road map, update of the voter’s register will end on 10 February 2025, and Kafuuzi said that with the heightened awareness creation, the objective of the exercise will be achieved.
“Electoral Commission is cognisant of the challenges that have been identified in these first days of the exercise but we are confident that with the mechanisms put in place to address them, the time allocated will enable Ugandans to register and update their particulars,” he added.
The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi who raised the questions however, said that the Attorney General’s statement was not factual noting that the exercise has not commenced in several areas.
He called for extension of the deadline of the update of the voter’s register.
“Government should concede that there is need for more time for this process because there are many glitches. We need more time for the electoral process to be free and fair,” Ssenyonyi said.
Hon. Stephen Baka (NRM, Bukooli County North) on the other hand attributed the challenges faced by the EC to the shortfalls on the EC’s budgetary allocations.
“EC is working under difficult conditions, the commission needs Shs450 billion to handle both phase two and three of the general elections. We have an obligation to ensure that EC is well funded to handle their mandate,” he said.
Source:Parliament Of Uganda