Implementation of the amended Local Government Act is frightening local politicians as the Electoral Commission demarcates electoral areas.
The Electoral Commission approved the revised summary Roadmap for the 2025/2026 General Elections early this month.
It then began the demarcation of constituencies and electoral areas and the reorganisation of polling stations on 6 August. The exercise for demarcation of the constituencies and electoral areas closes this Friday 16th August.
Teams comprising Electoral Commission Constituted team comprising Town Clerks, Sub County Administrative Secretaries District planners, and Chief Administrative Officers, are conducting the exercise. They have been splitting electoral areas, merging some, and abolishing others.
While all seems to be moving on well, the Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament, Betty Nambooze Bakireke told Parliament, that her councilors are panicking fearing losing electoral areas.
Parliament the Local Government Amendment Bill 2019 into an Act in early March 2020.
The Bill, which was assented to by the President, amended the Local Government Act with the provisions of the Constitution as amended by the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2018. The amendment provided for the creation of local government and magistrate units in preparation for the election of 2026.
It also provides for demarcation of electoral areas and prescribe the manner of conducting campaigns. Nambooze observes that the law sets limits on the number of voters in an electoral area.
Nambooze told the House the Electoral Commission is using data from the housing and population census of 2014 instead of the recently concluded census. She is of the view that the EC should have used data from the recent census.
“Mr. Speaker after ten years, the population has changed. So if you go out to create electoral areas, based on the 2014 population census, you are in essence already rigging the elections,” she said.
The Electoral Commission has reportedly explained that it could not use data from the recently concluded census because the results are yet to be gazetted.
She says with the changes, some councils will have their number of councilors drastically reduced after the 2026 election.
“I have been looking at some of my councils. Some of them now have nine councilors. So if you have a council with nine councilors and four of them are on the executive and three of them are chairpersons of committees, that means that committees will now have no members,” Namboze stated.
She is of the view that while the Local Government Amendment Act 2020 was well-intended, it appears as if it might cause absurdities in some districts and sub-counties.
“We make laws but laws are not supposed to cause absurdities. When you see that, a council has been reduced to a number that can constitute a council with its organs, the best thing for the Electoral Commission to refer the matter back to Parliament,” she prayed.
Justice Minister, Norbert Mao agreed that the Electoral Commission should have consulted with the political players.
“So this matter is critical. As I understand it, the Hon member is stating that the Electoral Commission is perhaps using the meaning of independence. The electoral Commission is Independent but it does not mean that they act alone and they don’t act for themselves,” said Mao.
Mao believes that it is important that the political parties have an input in the ongoing exercise.
“We want to avoid gerrymandering. We don’t want accusations by those who will lose the elections to claim that they lost because of the actions of the Electoral Commission,” Mao stated.
Many MPs agreed that the concern by Betty Namboze has been raised by many councilors across the country.
