Destroying people's national IDs is an act of criminality, says EC boss
The Chairperson Electoral Commission (EC) ,Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama has warned security authorities not to destroy people's national identification cards during their night operations.
He made the remarks during the commemoration of the International Day of Democracy at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds on Friday.
His remarks followed several complaints from citizens about the inhumane behavior shown by LDUs and other security officers who confiscate or destroy people' IDs at night in case people fail to give them money.
"The act of destroying peoples’ national identity cards of the citizen, to me will amount to a criminal act that is committed by the members of security services, or LDUs. An ID is a property of the beholder and it’s purchased using taxpayers’ money,"he said
He said these IDS are issued at the cost noting that breaking them is a serious crime.
He urged Ugandans to file cases against Local Defence Unit (LDU) officers and other security agencies who break their national identity cards.
"For me I would say we should charge such people with the offence of malicious damage. This is one’s constitutional rights and it’s a compulsory requirement that every Ugandan citizen must have. If security officers break them, it is against the law and they must be arrested and prosecuted, "he noted.
He said that Uganda is not ready to print ballot locally due to lack of trust of state holders and lack of capacity of local firms.
“They will say these people are planning to cheat so in a bid to make the process appear as transparent as possible, let’s go and do it in neutral country," he added.
Crispy Kaheru, the coordinator of Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) noted
that printing of electoral materials is very costly.
"That essentially means that we are selling that money to another country. We should actually be retaining that money in our economy,"he said.
The commemoration of international day of democracy provides an opportunity to celebrate the state of democracy around the world however some people believe that a lot more need to be done
