By KT Reporter
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) mobilisers have announced a targeted civic education and mobilisation campaign in Mukono Municipality, citing persistent voter education gaps that have previously cost the ruling party thousands of votes.
Mobilisation teams operating under the Office of the National Chairman (ONC), headed by Hadijah Namyalo, are set to roll out a large-scale voter sensitisation exercise on Monday at Wantoni Trading Centre taxi parking space.
The campaign seeks to consolidate support for President Yoweri Museveni and NRM candidates in the municipality while addressing what party leaders describe as avoidable voting errors.
John Baptist Wamala, the ONC Coordinator for Mukono Municipality, said the initiative goes beyond mobilisation and aims to correct technical mistakes that undermined NRM performance in the 2021 general elections.
According to Wamala, many votes were invalidated due to minor but critical errors, such as incorrect ticking of ballot papers.
“We lost many votes simply because supporters did not vote correctly,” Wamala said, adding that the party is popularising its newly launched campaign slogan, “Wolaba Bus, Tikinga, loosely translated as “See the bus, tick it, to simplify voting choices for supporters.
Wamala further criticised the Electoral Commission (EC) for what he described as inadequate voter sensitisation, particularly among first-time voters and the elderly.
He noted that limited civic education has left many voters unprepared for voting procedures, contributing to high numbers of invalid ballots.
These concerns were echoed by residents and opposition leaders in Mukono, who say the challenge extends beyond party lines. Margret Nattabi, a youth leader, argued that many first-time voters lack a basic understanding of voting procedures due to poor public sensitisation, overreliance on social media, and the use of English-only voter education materials.
She also emphasised logistical challenges surrounding the distribution of voter slips, noting that collection centres are often unclear, distant, or inaccessible to young voters and those in rural communities.
Robert Peter Kabanda, a NUP candidate for Mukono Municipality, warned that the introduction of biometric voting machines could further disenfranchise voters unfamiliar with the technology. He estimated that nearly 65 percent of voters are new and lack experience with biometric systems.
“When the technology fails, voters should not be punished,” Kabanda said, urging the EC to allow flexibility and provide clear guidance on whether voters without slips will be permitted to vote.
Meanwhile, Mukono Woman Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze raised broader concerns about the EC’s preparedness and transparency. She questioned why voter slip collection centres are located far from communities and criticised the failure to deploy public address vans for voter education despite the availability of a budget.
Nambooze also warned that issuing multiple ballot papers simultaneously could confuse voters, compromise the secrecy of the vote, and lead to an increase in invalid ballots under the new voting system.
Across the political divide, leaders and voters are now calling on the Electoral Commission to urgently scale up voter education, clarify voting procedures, and review aspects of the electoral system to ensure the upcoming elections are free, fair, and inclusive.
Efforts to obtain a comment from the Electoral Commission office in Mukono on the reported civic education gaps were unsuccessful by press time. However, the EC spokesperson, Julius Mucunguzi, said the Commission is fully prepared for the polls, noting that staff have been trained on nearly all aspects of the electoral process.
He assured voters that measures are in place to guide them through voting procedures and prevent anticipated mistakes, adding that such errors are unlikely to occur on polling day.
As parties step in to fill the civic education gap, the Mukono experience highlights a growing concern: that without robust, non-partisan voter sensitisation, electoral outcomes may continue to be shaped not just by political choice, but by procedural confusion.
-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
