Records at the FDC party offices in Kabarole district indicate that so far only five members have registered to contest in the lower local council elections.
The Forum for Democratic Change- FDC party in Kabarole district is persuading its members to contest in the coming lower Local Council elections.
This follows a low turn up of its members who want to contest in the elections. Records at the party offices indicate that so far only five members have registered to contest.
Nyakato Rusoke, the FDC party chairperson Kabarole district, says that some party members don't want to contest, but they are being persuaded. She explains that the party will soon start a mobilization drive in all parts of the district to convince party members to contest.
//Cue in: “We are going…
Cue out: “…it's a general election.”//
Rusoke however says that persuading party members comes with challenges such as lack of resources to mobilize members.
She also notes that fielding candidates for the lower council elections could increase support of the party at the grass-root level, which she says is still low.
//Cue in: “We have challenges…
Cue out: “…national level.”//
However, the National Resistance Movement-NRM party has seen a big turn up of its members who want to contest in the elections. Gowan Yakubu, the Kabarole district NRM party secretary says that more than 200 people have so far shown interest to contest.
The FDC party in Kabarole district, like in other parts of the country, has struggled to gain support especially at the lowest level. During the general elections, the party has failed to field candidates to contest for lower council positions.
While campaigning at the local level gains momentum with some of the candidates printing posters, the Electoral Commission (EC) has said that individuals holding campaigns are doing so outside the institution's guidelines, since there is contention on funding, after the EC presented a 15.9 billion shillings budget, while Ministry of Finance says it will only allocate 10 billion shillings.
The EC spokesperson, Jotham Taremwa says that the commission has not yet issued any guidelines nor appointed or gazetted dates for purposes of conducting the elections.
Last year, the Government made a commitment to hold lower Local Council 1 and 2 elections by end of January 2017 and will cost at least 12 billion shillings. Parliament also passed the Local Government Amendment Act to allow voters in the LC 1 and LC 2 elections vote by lining up behind the candidates.
