The Electoral Commission (EC) has confirmed that it has received the necessary funding to conduct village Local Council elections and women league elections, clearing the way for the long-awaited exercise to proceed.
The announcement was made by EC Chairperson Simon Byabakama while speaking in Kikuube District during the Kikuube LC5 chairperson by-election.
Byabakama said the Ministry of Finance had finally released the required funds, allowing the Commission to move forward with preparations.
“As a commission we have always been ready, but the issue has always been funding. I can confirm that the Ministry of Finance has released the funds needed to conduct these elections,” he said.
He added that the Commission would formally address the country early next week, releasing the full roadmap and explaining how the elections will be conducted.
“It’s been a call for so many people to have these elections. Now we have funds. Take heart, on Monday we shall address the nation through the media on how these elections will be conducted and the entire roadmap,” Byabakama said.
The EC chairperson also cautioned against emerging irregularities, revealing that some village leaders had already begun compiling voter registers in anticipation of the exercise.
He said the Commission would not rely on locally prepared registers and would instead conduct its own independent voter registration process.
“The chairpersons need to just keep in touch with their voters, but we won’t use their registers in this exercise. We shall conduct our own registration exercise, and this will be communicated,” he said.
Byabakama urged calm and civility as preparations get underway, warning against hate speech and division at community level during the electoral process.
“These are village leaders who live with people. Let us be civilized and avoid hate speech because we interact almost on a daily basis,” he said.
The Electoral Commission is expected to release detailed timelines and guidelines for the grassroots elections in the coming days, marking a key step in restoring village-level electoral processes that have been pending for years.
