The EC has been allocated sh188.5b as its budget for the 2019/2020 financial year. The money includes sh34.2b for salaries. The EC had requested the finance ministry for sh645b. This means that the EC has a funding gap of sh456b.
Documents from the finance ministry indicate that the money allocated to the EC includes sh10b to be given to political parties.
The political parties, which will share the money depending on the level of their representation in Parliament, include the National Resistance Movement, the Forum for Democratic Change, the Democratic Party, Uganda People’s Congress and the Justice Forum.
EC had requested for a development budget of sh83b, of which sh72b was meant to cater for the relocation of their headquarters but it has been allocated only sh6.2b. EC’s roadmap shows that presidential and parliamentary campaigns will start in July 2020 while the elections will take place on January 10, 2021.
The EC has planned to embark on the process of updating the national voters register from November 2019 to January 2020. The register will be displayed from March 19, 2020 to April 8, 2020. The above information means most of the preparation activities for the 2021 polls have to take place during the next financial year (2019/2020).
Commenting on the Government’s failure to adequately fund preparatory activities for the forthcoming general elections, Crispin Kaheru, the coordinator of the Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda, said:
“The Government has demonstrated no interest in supporting electoral processes. Even in the past general elections, it has always underfunded the Electoral Commission. That is why they have also failed to give the EC funds for the pending by-elections.”
Kaheru argued that because of the underfunding, the EC currently lacks returning officers in over 24 districts.
“For me, that does not augur well for the democracy of the country. When you underfund electoral processes, it affects the quality of the elections,” he said.
Political analyst and researcher Dr Golooba Mutebi said: “If the Electoral Commission is not adequately funded, it undermines democracy. It means the quality of preparations will be low. You cannot expect the commission to organize free and fair elections when you have given them only 20% of the money they need.”