By KT Reporter
Candidates contesting in the residual election for position of Masaka district woman Councilors representing Zzimwe and Buyaga wards in Kyanamukaaka sub county, have resorted to hiring motorcycles and motor vehicles to ferry voters to polling stations to boost the turn up.
The three main contenders, Rose Nabasumba of the National Resistance Movement-NRM, Sarah Nalule of the National Unity Platform-NUP and Sarah Nakanyike of the Democratic Party, have deployed different motorcycles to transport their respective supporters to the various polling stations. Their election was called off over errors on the ballot papers that were delivered by the Electoral Commission.
Sarah Nalule, the NUP candidate has admitted facilitating the transportation of voters, saying it is necessitated by the apparent voter apathy created by the disorganization of the Electoral Commission.
According to her, ever since the polls were postponed, the morale of the voters also went down which requires her to remobilize them to participate in the election.
She confirms that at least 15 motorcycles have been sent out in villages to transport Voters to their respective polling stations to cast their ballots. “We were left with no option but to improvise means of attracting the votes to the polling station, despite the heavy cost implication it attracts,” she says.
She argues that her actions are a response to the conduct of her NRM competitor, who also carried on with her campaign mobilization drive all through the night. Rose Nabasumba, the NRM candidate in the race indicates that in addition to deploying motorcycles, she has also sent out mobile public address systems to encourage votes to show up at polling stations.
According to her, the majority voters are currently engaged in their gardens to harvest their crops, which requires the candidates to be proactive in encouraging them to participate in the election. Nabasumba indicates that she is leveraging the existing NRM village committees and recently elected local council leaders, to mobilize communities to boost voter turnup.
”The postponement of the election was at great loss of the candidates, and the Electoral Commission did not do anything to stirrup public participation, whatever we are doing are our own initiatives,” she says.
Siraie Luyinda, the Kyanamukaaka sub county Councilor representing Zzimwe ward, is among the dozens NRM mobilizers who are involved in the transportation of voters to polling stations.
Nevertheless he indicates that the turnup remains too low at many pollution stations, blaming it on the declined public interest.
However, Sarah Nakanyike the DP candidate had accused her two competitors of taking advantage of the situation to start bribing voters in the guise of doing last minute mobilization. Despite also deploying motorcycles to carry voters to polling stations, she argues her opponents have sent out agents who are enticing voters with bribes ranging from 2,000 shillings.
”We have received reports the some people are giving out money to voters, but we blame all this the Electoral Commission which failed to do a good job, had the voting occurred alongside other L.CV leaders these problems would easily be prevented,” she observed.
Marble Kwarikunda, the Masaka District Returning Officer says her office is yet to receive any complaints about the residual election being conducted in the area. She says their teams are in the field to ensure the residual elections are conducted smoothly.
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