The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Masaka, Uganda | URN | More than 800 candidates are set to assume office unopposed as Local Council I (LC I) chairpersons in the Greater Masaka and Greater Luwero sub-regions ahead of today’s nationwide village elections.
The Electoral Commission is conducting LC I chairperson elections in all villages across the country. According to the election programme, voter verification is scheduled to take place between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., while voting will begin at 11:00 a.m.
Results are expected to be declared between 11:30 a.m. and noon. Successful chairpersons will then preside over the nomination of their village Executive Committee members, whose appointments must be approved by the village assembly.
In the Greater Masaka sub-region, which comprises nine districts and Masaka City, more than 500 candidates have been declared unopposed. Lyantonde District registered at least 85 unopposed candidates, while Rakai District recorded 121. Masaka City had 31 unopposed candidates, with the remaining districts registering between 50 and 80 each.
Some of the villages with unopposed candidates include Kaliro A, Kaliro B, Kooki C, Mukokooma LC I and Kyabazala in Lyantonde Town Council.
In the Greater Luwero sub-region, Nakaseke District registered at least 110 unopposed candidates, followed by Nakasongola with 85 and Luwero District with 80. All the unopposed candidates in the three districts belong to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Villages with unopposed candidates in Nakasongola are Muslim Zone, Mayanja Zone, Bizibutukula, Nalukonge, Wamukende, Kateebe, Lwandama, Karubanga, Nakakola and Kyadoboka. In Nakaseke District, villages with unopposed candidates include Kimwanyi, Kiteredde, Kireku, Nkozi B, Bambaga, Ssebuguzi, Kalagala B, Kifumbe, Ssekanyonyi and Kyetume, among others.
Candidates who have been declared unopposed will not take part in today’s voting. Instead, they will proceed directly to nominate members of their Executive Committees for approval by the village assembly.
NRM Deputy Secretary General Rose Namayanja Nsereko said the party fielded candidates in all 71,214 villages across the country. She said preliminary reports indicate that many of them were declared unopposed after opposition parties failed to field candidates.
Namayanja argued that no opposition party has matched the NRM’s nationwide presence and described LC I leadership as critical to effective service delivery.
However, Luwero District Chairperson Erastus Kibirango disputed the NRM’s interpretation of the unopposed victories. He argued that in several villages, opposition parties failed to field candidates because of alleged intimidation by state security operatives and fear among aspiring contestants.
Kibirango also said some potential candidates were discouraged from contesting due to concerns that the elections could be marred by the irregularities witnessed in previous electoral processes.
Opposition leaders in Greater Masaka have similarly accused the NRM of manipulating the electoral process to disadvantage their candidates.
Ronald Kasekende, the Nyendo-Mukungwe Division Chairperson in Masaka City and a campaign coordinator, alleged that village registers were tampered with to remove opposition supporters, including aspiring candidates, thereby preventing their nomination.
“On the closure of the nomination, we discovered that many village registers were tampered with to remove opposition supporters, including candidates, who the Electoral Commission could not proceed to nominate,” Kasekende said. Despite the alleged irregularities, Kasekende noted that the National Unity Platform (NUP) also secured three unopposed LC I chairperson positions.
The unopposed NUP candidates are from Njumaga, Kirumba and Kayirikiti Piida cells in Nyendo-Mukungwe Division, where the Electoral Commission struck off the NRM candidates in those villages after establishing that they had failed to resign from public office before seeking nomination for the LC I elections.
