The Monitor (Kampala)
Augustine Ruzindana
4 November 2009
opinion
In 2008, the Secretary General (SG) of the NRM, Amama Mbabazi, tasked a team of volunteers to analyse the 2006 elections and all past elections. The task was carried out from May 2008 to August 2009.
The terms of reference included to "identify all methods used by the opposition to "create" 59 per cent score" for the NRM candidate who the SG believed "did indeed score 70 per cent"; to "use the lessons learned from Kinkizi West, Kanungu 2001 (Mbabazi vs Musinguzi) to understand ways to prevent Opposition rigging and Opposition pre-organised, pre-meditated negative propaganda and the effectiveness of their propaganda in creating a mindset of perceived NRM rigging" and give strategic ideas to ensure the NRM presidential candidate in 2011 has 80 per cent of the Presidential vote cast.
I have read what I think is the team's report and I give, in their own words, some of their interesting findings the public debate has missed. The debate has been only on "ghost voters" but they also found over 700,000 disenfranchised voters.
They found "a mixed strategy of add/subtract where select voters were disenfranchised and deleted from the 2001 roll". "The ECU claimed in K.W. Besigye vs Electoral Commission 1st respondent, Y.K. Museveni 2nd respondent (Supreme Court, 2006) that about 150,000 citizens were deleted from the roll. As a matter of fact, this figure is only 20 per cent of the total deletions."
"Why did they massively delete bonafide voters and what implication did it have to the final result? The NRM voter registration exercise has found entire villages missing from the roll." "The skewed results show that the Opposition has been manipulating results and indeed have been in control of middle management of the National Electoral Commission Uganda (ECU) since 2001.
They have subsequently built "over Half a Million Ghosts" on the electoral roll and the integrity of the data has been compromised". "The number of new villages containing one registered voter has also risen to dangerous levels spurred on by an unclear policy on village creation and corruption at the top of Electoral Commission".
"The uncharacteristic growth of the voter roll is most worrying and more so 13,500,000 - 15,000,000 voter target by the Electoral Commission Uganda (ECU) for the 2011 electoral roll. A figure that we believe has been fabricated to justify the plans of a few individuals to turn this election into a money minting operation".
Throughout the report, the Opposition means FDC but for some reason they got the impression that the ECU has been working for the FDC. The evidence they have is that Mrs Joyce A. Wadri, whose qualifications they do not doubt, should not have been posted in the north. They also found a Mr Oryem Okello, legal head, yet he is a "Managing Partner of a law firm owned by himself, Hon. Ben. Wacha, and Hon. Abdu Katuntu". His "partiality" was "demonstrated by his damaging and false testimony to the ECU in Besigye vs Museveni, 2006 (Supreme Court)".
The report is categorical that "the Secretary, Mr Sam Rwakoojo, is not qualified to hold the job of Secretary. How has he sustained himself in this position, especially when his qualifications have been in question and indeed questioned by several citizens?
In fact, there is great doubt as to his qualifications, period. We recommend that he is relieved of his duty forthwith as he has done the most to damage NRM".
The main conclusion of the report is that the "NRM must unconditionally lead the way to remove all "ghosts" as they are more likely to damage the party in 2011 and will work into FDC plan to bring the NRM candidate below 50 per cent".
This is the first part of a response to the NRM party ghost voters revelation
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