UMA'Undecided'2022: Kampala Lord Mayor intervenes

Yesterday, June 6 2022, the Uganda Musicians Association electoral commission was paralysed by the overwhelming concern about the transparency and fairness of the voting process.

The concerns stemmed from the quality of the digital systems which were frequently shut down due to electrical issues and slowed down by network issues. These conditions did not help to alleviate the previously challenged systems and this sparked off outrage among the contestants and the musicians.

UMA elections 2022 Pulse

Mayor Erias Lukwago arrived at the National Theatre premises where the election results were being displayed, to address King Saha's grievances. Lukwago engaged in a dialogue with the Chairman of UMA electoral commission Geoffrey Jeff Ekongot to gain clarity for the disgruntled crowd.

Among Lukwago's concerns was the issue of King Saha failing to access the system to vote for himself and voters calling their respective candidates inquiring about the system failure while others could vote more than once per mobile number.

Lord Bitem, real names Ramathan Mutebi, one of the three presidential candidates, also backed King Saha to scrap the digital process and have the physical ballot voting procedure.

UMA elections 2022 Pulse

"Even if I win, I will not be satisfied with the margin by which I have beaten the other contestants because most of my votes will be unaccounted for. Let us leave the digital system and go for the traditional voting process," Lord Bitem said.

However, Ekongot explained that although all petitions are welcome and valid, the association is low on funding for physical voting considering the resources already invested in the digital system. He then called upon a legal counsel to address further questions concerning the exercise.