Election time is upon us and for once I’ve taken keen interest in following these elections beyond the confines of social media.
I’ve spent the past three months studying and participating in the political landscape of Butaleja district where I emanate.
The NRM party without doubt is predominant in this district hence making many believe that for political success you need to dress in yellow.
Last Friday we held primaries for the MP positions after an electrifying period of campaigns.
I was shocked to the marrow when I learnt of plots by incumbents to rig their way back to parliament. Matters sucked in Dr Tanga Odoi the head of the electoral commission of the party.
There were attempts to change returning officers at the last minute that were thwarted by the massive exposure of the scheme being worked on.
The winner to me was the way elections were handled on voting day. It’s no wonder that there were cries from across the country. For elections that ended by 2pm at nearly all polling stations why would the district tally center take forever to get the result and pronounce the winner?
I believe I know why. The structure of the electoral process in the party dwells on one thing, *How to enable vote thieves to prosper.*
I do not see why the party couldn’t design a simple results tabulation system that could ensure that vote counts from polling stations were received in real time at the district tally centre. As usual because of analog mindsets, they prefer to wait until all physical documentation has reached the center before embarking on counting. What a shame and waste of resources.
I did help one team come up with an electronic tally centre that enabled them have a clear dashboard in real time how all the candidates were performing based on the returns. These guys by the time 50% of the results had been declared knew they had gone through.
If in a couple of days such a system could be designed, what is the NRM secretariat doing failing to embrace the simplicity technology brings?
It’s no wonder that the team I helped took the day because all attempts to alter the results by the mafias bore no fruit.
Hon. Dombo Emmanuel, now that you’ve joined the secretariat and become the mouthpiece, save yourself the embarrassment by ensuring that your colleagues embrace a digital lifestyle.
The eternal optimist
James Wire
Http://wirejames.com
The Wire Perspective 