By KT Reporter
A section of voters in Moroto Municipality boycotted the elections of the NRM flag bearers for the local council three over an unresolved petition of the NRM primaries for the parliamentary candidates
Fred Angella petitioned the NRM Election Dispute Tribunal over the alleged irregularities during the primary elections, where he was defeated by the incumbent MP Frank Adome. However, the tribunal is yet to deliver the judgment on the case.
The electorates have expressed their frustration with the NRM Election Dispute Tribunal for delaying in declaring the winner of the flag bearer for the Moroto municipality parliamentary seat. The voters also cited irregularities, dishonesty and corruption as some of the major factors discouraging them from participating in the elections.
Joseph Opio Lometo, the South Division speaker, said that the voters refused to turn up for the local council elections three times because they are frustrated by the irregularities in the NRM party system.
He said that they tried mobilising for the voters, but the response was low because the people are still aggrieved about the recently concluded elections for the parliamentary party flag bearer.
Lometo noted that the voters are still frustrated over the way in which the NRM officials are managing the primary elections. He observed that many voters claim that most of the leaders whom they voted for were not declared despite having clear records of winning.
Lometo observed that the results were overturned, favouring the aspirants who had money for bribery and not those who were elected.
He warned that the corruption and the election irregularities that occurred during the NRM primaries for parliamentary contestants are likely to affect the NRM party even during the general elections of 2026.
Lometo demanded that the NRM tribunal consider announcing the flag bearer for the Moroto municipality parliamentary seat so that they know their fate. He revealed that people are threatening to cross to opposition parties where they see transparency rather than existing in the corrupted system.
Charles Robert Onyoin, one of the voters, expressed his disappointment when he entered the polling station and found no people.
Onyoin said that those who boycotted the elections claimed that they could not vote when the results were declared against their will.
Onyoin said that he tried begging people to join him at the polling station to vote, but they insisted that it was a waste to vote for leaders of their choice, and the NRM officials overturned the results.
He noted that if the problem of election irregularities is not addressed, it will affect the general elections, and people are ready to vote for the opposition as a form of protest.
Peter Lodia, the LC1 chairperson of Kambizi ward in South Division, noted that the voters were not mobilised and most of them did not know about the voting date.
Lodia noted that some voters deliberately refused to turn up for the elections following the irregularities and the corruption incidents that happened during the NRM primaries for parliamentary aspirants.
He said that the voters were comfortably busy with their businesses, and others were drinking instead of going to the elections.
Lodia noted that the discouragement from the election could have resulted from the election disputes for the two aspirants who contested for the flagbearer in the municipality parliamentary seat.
Jamila Amei, the LCIII female councillor for South Division, said that she tried everything possible to mobilise the voters to go to the voting, but they paid a deaf ear.
Amei alleges that some of the agents of the aspirants were seen trying to bribe people to go to the polling station, but all in vain. She added that people were quarrelling and others were abusing her for trying to convince them to go to the elections.
Dr James Tweheyo, the Commissioner of the NRM Electoral Commission for Karamoja region, acknowledged that the voters turned up for the election, but at a slow pace.
Tweheyo said that they had to wait up to around mid-day, and that is the time people started reporting to the polling stations. He also reported that the election was generally peaceful and there were no cases of malpractice recorded during the time of the elections.
Tweheyo warned the registrars to be in maximum honesty and not to alter the results as they receive them from the different polling stations to avoid cases of election disputes.
Tweheyo said that the people should be given freedom to choose their leader of their choice and not to impose leaders on them.
Tweheyo also added that he has been closely monitoring the NRM primary elections in Karamoja, and he observed that the leaders were not honest with their voters. He said that the leaders are hiding the truth from their voters and instead influencing them to make wrong decisions.
He challenged the leaders to tell their voters the truth and explain to them how the system operates rather than misleading the voters.
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