By KT Reporter
Elections are yet to start in Jinja district despite dispatchment of election materials from as early as 6:00am.
At the different polling stations, polling constables and officials have pitched camp, without any voters turning up to participate in the process.
The distribution of polling materials started at around 5:30am and by 9:00am, five sub counties out of the seven had recieved all the items required for the exercise to get underway.
At about 10 polling stations in Buwenge town council, the polling officials had already cordoned off the electoral areas by 8:30am, however, well after 9.00, they were still waiting for the mandatory 10 registered voters to witness the unpacking of election materials, before kicking off the entire process.
One of the returning officers who spoke on condition of anonymity predicted of a possible low voter turn up, locally blaming the “disappointing” outcomes of the presidential and parliamentary elections.
He argues that, most voters are normally excited during presidential and parliamentary elections, however, whenever results are not in their favour, they tend to shun the proceding electoral processes.
He is however, hopeful that, the momentum might pick up around midday, arguing that, a number of voters will be done with household chores and participate in the election of their local government leaders.
Another presiding officer who spoke on condition of anonymity blames the low turn on last week’s delays, which he says kept the voters waiting for hours before kickoff.
This he says might have discouraged voters from turning up early enough, hoping that, the numbers will grow within the day.
On her part, Sandra Namusobya, a voter from Buwenge town council says that, last week’s elections were characterized by enthusiasm, where contestants hired mobilizers at village levels, whose main role was to rally different voters on the importance of exercising their civic duty.
Namusobya notes that, these mobilizers provided motorcycles to transport voters from far off villages to the polling stations, which enabled them to vote with ease.
Namusobya says that, most contestants at local government level cannot afford such investments, which goes a long way in lowering the voter numbers.
On her part, Sarah Kabukaire, the returning officer of Jinja district noted that, all polling officials have been trained on voter management and she is hopeful of a peaceful election exercise.
Kabukaire also argues that, their teams have conducted civic education meetings in all the seven sub counties across Jinja district, sensitizing members of the general public on the importance of voting their leaders.
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