Presidential aspirants cry foul as voters overcharge them for signatures

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Several Ugandans burning with ambition to unseat President Yoweri Museveni and take his job come next year’s elections are beginning to feel the hurdles they have to jump over even before getting nominated to stand if they are to realize their dream.

After getting the nomination and support papers from the Electoral Commission, some 82 presidential aspirants have embarked on the first hurdle of getting one hundred signatures from each of some 90 districts to attach to their nominations. However unlike the incumbent Commander in Chief whom a voter can dare extort money from, a URN survey has found that the poor aspirants are being shaken down for between one thousand and six thousand shillings by cynical or greedy voters for each signature. Moreover, the aspirant cannot easily tell if the voter has not already signed for another aspirant, yet the EC is expected to and would very easily find this out, and require the aspirant to go back for genuine signatures before the nomination deadline.

Hillary Humphrey Kaweesi, an Independent Presidential aspirant is frustrated at the voters’ demands of one thousand shillings to give him their ID particulars and signature. The frustrated man told Uganda Radio Network that he has covered 56 districts of Uganda and everywhere he and his agents go, his alleged supporters only demand for money instead of listening to his political values and what he stands for as a leader.

John Herbert Nkangabwa, an Independent aspirant, has opted out of the race after struggling without success to get to get the signatures for which some unkind voters are demanding six thousand shillings! At this price, he would require at least 54 million shillings to get the minimum required signatures, an amount he doesn’t have, yet he also has to foot transport costs, meals and accommodation for himself and his team. Ugandans will thus not get to see Nkangabwa’s manifesto to compare it with those of other candidates.

Phiona Mirembe is facing the same challenge of demands for money from supporters, meaning that she might not get the required signatures from the districts. Mirembe says the central and western Uganda regions have been most challenging financially, but the eastern and northern regions were not so hard.

Several civil society organizations have condemned the act of soliciting money from aspirants.   Salima Namusobya, is the Executive Director of the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) says the aspirants have not done enough to rally supporters understand the importance of making civil choices and not reducing it all to money. She says some politicians are financed to acquire signatures, get nominated and campaign. This means that upon getting to power they would spend more of the time making decisions in favor of the financiers and not the electorate, even when the contracts they are asking for do not suit their expertise or if have done shoddy work before.

Ivan Mwaka, the Manager in Charge of election observation at Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU) says they are observing and getting reports about how the aspiring candidates’ registration process is going on. He says aspiring candidates have expressed fear of monetizing the elections process among supporters and candidates.

As at 25th September 2020, 82 aspirants had collected nomination and supporter forms to be filled in. They including nine females. The females namely:  Faith Amaro, Maureen Kyalya, Pamela Amolo, Juliana Grace Kabarungi, Linda Nancy Kalembe, Janet Kataha Komugisha, Brenda Katushemererwe, Elizabeth Katwe Lugudde and Phiona Mirembe.

Section 10 (b) of the Presidential Elections Act provides that Presidential candidates’ nomination shall be supported by not less than 100 persons who are registered voters in each of at least two thirds (2/3) of all the districts in Uganda.

********

URN