By George William, 27th March 2024
The Electoral Commission has informed MPs on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee that they have a funding gap of Shs960 billion in the Financial Year 2024/2025, which has the potential to affect electoral activities ahead of the 2026 general elections.
According to the Electoral Commission, out of the Shs1.1 trillion needed to organize the 2026 polls, the Ministry of Finance has only allocated Shs150 billion. The Electoral Commission officials made the remarks on Wednesday while appearing before the legal and Parliamentary affairs Committee to present their budget estimate for the FY 2024/2025. The officials were led by chairman Electoral Commission Justice Simon Byabakama.
The Commission says some of the activities likely to be affected without the additional funds have statutory requirements which include the demarcation of new constituencies, reorganization of the polling stations, compilation of the general registers and for the special interest groups, voter education among others activities.
The committee, however, expressed reservations about the budget, saying other areas of service delivery need to be prioritized. According to the Budget Estimate submitted to the committee, the Electoral Commission also requires She1.6bn for the recruitment of new staff in the 10 new cities, Shs15.3bn for the anticipated by-elections, Shs3.3bn for the voter education, Shs7.9bn for the operationalization of the EC offices in the 10 new cities, and Shs3.9bn for the procurement of new fleet.
For the capital development, Shs7.2bn is needed, Shs3.3bn for national consultative forum, Shs10.4bn for domestic arrears among others.The Commission says they are faced with challenges of implementing court ruling that paved way for the participation of Ugandan in the diaspora and those in prisons in general polls.
