KAMPALA — The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has decried what they described as a poorly conducted nomination exercise of candidates for the local government positions.
According to FDC, Candidates have had to sleep at nomination centres in Wakiso, Mukono and other areas.
The nominations of candidates for the local government is concluding this week on Thursday October 1st.
“These nominations have been poorly conducted especially in urban centres where the number of councilors are obviously high. Candidates have had to sleep at nomination centres in Wakiso, Mukono and other areas. In some extreme cases, candidates have had to bribe security personnel at the gates in order to access returning officers,” Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the FDC spokesman, said at a press conference in Kampala on Monday.
“Mid way the exercise in Waksio, the format of nominations changed from first come first serve to allocating days to constituency. Some candidates are up to now without certificate of nominations. Candidates of the NRM by-passed lines and were nominated first just because they are NRM. The Justice Byabakama Commission must investigate these irregularities or else they will be repeated during the general elections,” he added.
Mr Ssemujju added that now that candidates have/are being nominated, the Electoral Commission must issue clear and specific guidelines on how campaigns are going to be conducted.
“We need to know the number of meetings and number of attendees local government candidates are allowed. Of course the number of people attending MPs and presidential campaigns should be high. The EC must also reign in on Police to stop dispersing campaign meetings,” he added.
