Toroma By-Election: The Return Form for the By-Election (18.05.2017)

How the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) of Kenya ordered Electoral Material and by doing so; the IIEC Officials secured themselves on Government funds applied for Electoral Materials!

The main issue is that there are this printing company named Smith & Ouzman (S&O) Limited, who was hired to work for Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) in Kenya. They have had a shady agreement between the Government Organization of the IIEC with certain individuals inside the S&O who made the deals and contracts that will be explained.

This is taken from the Court Document from the Crown Court a.k.a. Southwark Court in London, and the court case this information is taken from is the “Regina V. Christopher Smith, Nicholas Smith, Timothy Forrester, Abdirahman Omar and Smith and Ouzman Limited”. The Southwark Court Note that we’re made by Mark Bryant-Heron and Trevor Archer on the 30^th September 2014, and where this information comes from and says how the embezzlement, fraud and corrupt Kenyan Officials used the IIEC to gain profits for themselves. Take a look!

Corrupt Officials and how the agreement happens:

“This included obtaining printed materials for those elections e.g. ballot papers. The count alleges agreement between the defendants and the agent, Trevy James Oyombra in the case of count 1, to make corrupt payments in relation to the award of and payment for contracts to print materials” (…)“A legitimate business transaction using an agent. The agent is retained by the supplier under a contract to use his best efforts on behalf of the supplier in the country the agent is operating in. Negotiations between the supplier and the customer will often include the agent who is there and can speak to employees of the customer. As a result of successful negotiations a contract (agreement) is reached between supplier and customer for the supply of goods which are duly shipped over and the customer is invoiced by the supplier. The customer pays the invoice amount and the supplier pays the agent his fee, which is usually a commission payment in this case.”

So you have the Agent Trevy James Oyombra of IIEC who made the agreement with S&O in order for IIEC to get the material and at the same to fix the invoice so they could corrupt own employees and embezzlement. This here was managed that way. As told here:

“The customer pays for that supply of goods in the normal way, but there is an additional payment to the corrupt official in accordance with the corrupt agreement between the supplier and that official. A corrupt payment in advance of delivery of the goods may properly be described as an inducement. A corrupt payment after delivery may properly be described as a reward. Both an inducement and a reward for showing favour to S&O fall within the definition of the alleged offences in this case”.

As it continues to describe like this:

“The dealings of S&O with the Independent Interim Electoral Commission in Kenya. The defendants charged with this offence are Christopher Smith, Nicholas Smith and the company, S&O. Their agent in Kenya was Trevy James Oyombra (“Trevy”). He was a party to the agreement to commit this offence and bribe officials. He was appointed by S&O as their agent on 5/10/08”.

How they did it:

“The defendants and the agent Trevy James Oyombra (known as Trevy) agreed to bribe a number of officials at the IIEC”.

How long we’re the tenders lasting:

“The defendants are Christopher Smith, Nicholas Smith and S&O. The agent in Kenya was, again, Trevy. There were three agreements for S&O to supply materials to the KNEC. The tender for the first of these contracts was submitted by S&O in September 2009 and the final payment by KNEC to S&O was made in November 2010”.

The value of the contracts between the S&O and the IIEC:

“The value of the seven contracts was £1,377,257. S&O received ten payments from the IIEC from 22/9/09 to 8/12/10 in the total sum of £1,366,976. From that sum S&O retained £980,834. £380,859 was paid to Trevy’s bank account. Of that sum the prosecution say that it was agreed between the defendants and the agent Trevy that £337,993 was to be paid on by Trevy in bribes to the IIEC officials”.

Direct Payment to IIEC Officials:

“The payments received by S&O from the KNEC for supplying these examination materials was £282,339. The sterling equivalent of £9,604 was paid to the agent Trevy. It was agreed that he was to pay on the sterling equivalent of £2,803 ($4,000) to officials. In addition S&O paid £5,200 directly to two officials, Paul Wasanga and Ephraim Wanderi”.

So know we see the Trevy James Oyombra to able to fix the contract deals money directly to Paul Wasanga and Ephraim Wanderi in the Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya, so that they could have tenders and agreements between S&O and the IIEC. So they would have the election material from them. This was the £5,200 to the men of the IIEC officials, which is a corrupt direct deal together with the £980,000 that was in the agreement payment to S&O.  The IIEC got the rest and went officially to Trevy, but after that we’re directed to the Officials of the IIEC so the £380,000. So they had an agreement that £390,400 in bribes in between the agent, S&O and the IIEC.

A timeline for some of the transactions:

Contract 1: Shinyalu and Bomachoge By-Election

“On the 16th June 2009, Nicholas Smith wrote to the IIEC chairman, Ahmed Issack Hassan [Ex AFM 0293]. The letter referred to a meeting between S&O and Hassan at IIEC’s offices in Nairobi and quotes for printing voter registration forms, voter ID cards and ballot papers for the urgent Shinyalu and Bomachoge by-election. The price quoted was £32,526. The 200,000 voter ID cards and 20,000 voter registration (“OMR”) forms were quickly produced by S&O and delivered on 27/6/09” (…)”On 29/6/09 Nick Smith sent Trevy the “attached calculation of payment for the by election requirements”, adding that Trevy had been allotted £750 for his efforts. [AFM 0292]. Trevy replied by email on the same date 29/6/09, asking for his £750 to be increased to £1,000. Nicholas Smith replied the following day, 30/6/09, saying he had just texted Trevy and attaching what he described as the accurate figures” (…)”The remainder off that contract price is divided up between funds from the contract for S&O: £21,950 and a sum of £10,576 for “comm”. Comm, the prosecution suggest is short for “commission”. The email traffic makes clear who this “comm” is for. In the email of 29/6/09, which Nicholas Smith replied to, Trevy made it clear that it was necessary to distribute this sum covertly by sending it to Trevy’s account” (…)”Wiring to Trevy’s account would avoid suspicions according to Trevy and, Trevy informed Nicholas Smith, Karani had been in communication with the seven other members of the committee about this. He added that they (IIEC officials) had been informed that “this would be done” [i.e. payment made to the officials] after S&O received their money. In a further email from Trevy the following day, 30/6/09” (…)”On 4/8/09, Trevy e mailed Nicholas Smith: [AFM 0261]: “i had a meeting i the morning and assured mr. karani and es team that once you are paid that’s when you will send over something and karani got it clear from you at the hilton that this will be done on payment. once that has been done i told em we shall all go to my bank and ill give the chicken to karani although karani hasnt told em how much it is but that’s their business. i think all this came about since they are anxious and very broke.” (…)”In the event S&O shipped 142,350 ballot papers. Nicholas Smith knew about this and gave instruction to his staff to leave the quantity off the shipping invoice” (…)”Nick Smith contacted Trevy about this and Trevy advised Nicholas Smith to let Karani know that the number of ballot papers actually needed was less than 200,000. Trevy stated that he was having breakfast with Karani and others and that payment would be made on the contract as agreed” (…)”The invoice included a price of Ksh 11.52 per ballot paper. This reflected Trevy’s observation in his emails of 30/6/09, where Trevy stated that the commission for the voter forms was just for “the iiec guyz” and that the reason for increasing the price of the ballot papers from 9Ksh to 11Ksh was to pay Trevy his commission” (…)”The total commission figure was shown as £11,236. This reflected the payments to the IIEC officials and the £1,000 for Trevy, less a payment of £250 which had been made by S&O on 11/8/09” (…)”The following day, 25/9/09 S&O sent a payment of £11,576 to Trevy” (…)”Nicholas Smith then emailed Trevy: “Karani has been in touch saying he hasn’t heard from you. I guess he is after chicken. Please confirm all is distributed.”.

Here you can see how the S&O facilitated the bribes to the IIEC as they got the contract for the Shinyalu and Bomachoge By-Election, the amount of bribes are staggering and proves how the Electoral Commission Officials ate from the top to give the Contract to the S&O. The agent facilitated it all as using the Commission on the Agreement as the bribes to the Officials and using “Chickens” to explain the values of bribes and if they we’re paid the officials.

Contract 2: 2009-2010 Voter ID forms.

“S&O secured a contract with IIEC to produce 18 million voter registration cards. The value of the contract was £278,838” (…)”On 30/12/09 Trevy emailed Nicholas Smith enclosing the details of other companies who had tendered, saying “have a scrutiny of these bidders and let’s talk after.” [AFM 0254] Trevy emailed Nicholas Smith again on the same day, 30/12/09, [AFM 0253] saying that “when it comes to handling these guys (chicken) I would prefer that if dena or karani or anyone tries to come directly to you please stik to your guns and let them come and discuss non official issues with me and tha involves chicken” (…)”The entries for ‘commission’ come to a total of £88,840. It is worth noting that after deducting the cost of the commission payments, airfreight and the cost of subcontracting the production of half of the forms, S&O only kept £96,579, out of which they had to pay the costs of producing half the forms” (…)”The pricing summary has the following entries “Comm K” £69,840, “Comm D + com” £6,000, “Comm O + H” £3,000 and “Comm T” £10,000. This summary therefore divides up the commission payments. 4 days after S&O wrote accepting the contract, Trevy emailed Nicholas Smith on 4/2/10, stating that “Dena and Chirchir will be in London and would like to meet you on Monday.” He stated they “were looking for a figure of 10 million ksh for emself, commissioners and others.” He advised Nicholas Smith to let them know the commission the “board have decided was 6000 pounds as we’ve earlier discussed to everyon without saying names…..dont mention uve met kebs or oswago or hamida.” Trevy went on to state that “these commissioners are seriously fronting and I know they are with punchlines….they want to reap where they do not sow.” (…)”The total amount demanded in bribes (“For emself, commissioners and others”) of 10 million ksh (Kenyan shillings) in Feb 2010 was worth £79,000. This comprises the three commission figures other than “Comm T”. “Comm K” of £69,840 is likely to be either a reference to KEBS, the Kenyan Bureau of Standards, referred to in Trevy’s email, or is possible a reference to Karani. “Comm D + com” of £6,000 is consistent with a reference to Dena and the commissioners and reflects the £6,000 mentioned in Trevy’s email. “Comm O + H” of £3,000 is consistent with a reference to Oswago, the IIEC Chief Electoral Officer, and Hamida, an individual connected to Oswago. Finally “Comm T” of £10,000 refers to Trevy’s commission. The bribes figure (removing Trevy’s commission) is a sterling figure of £78,840 which is close to the sterling equivalent of the 10 million ksh referred to by Trevy in his email” (…)”On 2/6/10 Nicholas Smith instructed S&O’s account department [AFM 0226] to pay to Trevy the balance of £44,420, which was included in a larger sum of £121,676.64 (the balance of which related to contract 3 below) which was paid to Trevy by S&O that day. [AFM 0013] The payment had been preceded by requests from Trevy for payment. On 1/6/10 Trevy emailed Nicholas Smith, chasing the chicken: “ive spoken to the ceo on delivery of forms and he will get back to me tomorrow. hes so happy iv mentioned that chicken will be with me on Friday or saturday. i hope you will be able to make the debit transactions to me today to facilitate me to have the payments done to them by saturday latest.” [AFM 0226] Nicholas Smith, apparently unsurprised by the confirmation that bribes were to be paid, replied “Our Finance Director isn’t in today so we can’t get this payment out today, but I will ensure it is made tomorrow.” The following day Nicholas Smith instructed that the balance to Trevy be paid”.

Another contract between the S&O to the IIEC Officials through the agents that used there terms to bribe them for the agreement. The bribe was in the range of £88,840 plus the agreed payment to the agents for facilitating it as the IIEC and S&O wanted all to earn money on the state coffers. The share value and price shows how much higher the price of the products becomes with the bribes, as the production cost the same as the bribes, so the price for production become the double and without would have been about half. That together with the commission and direct commission, together with the initial commission is the ones that make the production and procurement of the electoral material expensive in this matter!

Contract 3: Referendum Ballot Papers.

“This was a substantial contract to supply approximately 14.6 million ballot papers and associated forms for a Referendum. The items were dispatched in July 2010. The total contract value was £431,161.15. Trevy’s fee for this contract was £11,872.05” (…)”The prosecution case is that bribes intended for officials at the IIEC and the Kenyan Bureau of Standards (“KEBS”) totalled £108,203.82, which was reduced to £105,193.82 to take account of “hotel” costs paid by S&O during a 3-4 day visit of IIEC officials to S&O’s factory on 14th July 20103” (…)”Trevy was upbeat about S&O’s prospects of landing this lucrative contract. He reported that S&O were popular by this time with the IIEC because of previous corrupt payments which had by this time been paid or were agreed and awaiting payment and because S&O managed to combine the corrupt payments with reliable quality of product” (…)”Trevy explained that the officials wanted to take the opportunity while they were at the IIEC to make money: “Please also be advised that these guys are also here to make money […] These people are only in IIEC till the end of the year so they are after making money and they will play game with whoever puts what they want. They’ve reiterated that its better to make money with us coz we don’t compromise on quality but at the same time they want to make money”. Trevy added that he had spoken to the CEO (Chief Electoral Officer, Oswago) on the telephone and he explained how a figure of KSh 0.92 (as part of the bid price) was split between bribes for public officials at the KEBS, commissioners at the IIEC, Oswago and Dena. Trevy stated that Oswago told him he did not want to work with one of S&O’s competitors” (…)”By contrast, Oswago had assured Trevy that he would continue to work with S&O, who had paid him bribes in the past and would continue to pay him bribes in the future: “He believes in S&O and that’s what is important and we’ve given him money for the voters card and after payment for balance and pouches we are set to give him Gbp 21000 that Kshs 2,100,000. So he knows we can deliver both materially and money and I think this good will is important” (…)”Trevy went on to discuss the level of bribes for officials at KEBS, which, at KSh 0.20 per ballot paper was lower than that proposed by the officials at IIEC (KSh 0.20 per ballot paper) and Trevy’s own fee (KSh 0.10 per ballot paper), which would all be added to S&O’s price: “KEBS [Kenyan Bureau of Standards] are key guys so lets shelve theirs to Ksh 0. 20 this and any other person who will be in the technical committee. I was of getting Ksh 0.10. This makes a total commission of Kshs 0.85 to be loaded to your price” (…)”On 12th May 2010, S&O produced their bid submission for the tender. The prices had been converted into Sterling. The total price for 18 million ballot papers was £448,200” (…)”Trevy then went on to report that the IIEC would pay S&O in advance for the Referendum ballot papers because it suited them to pay before the close of their financial year: “IIEC will pay us in advance for referendum ballot papers because of the close of financial year in June.” (…)”if S&O received an advance payment, they would pay immediately: “If it is a straight advance payment then of course we are happy, and the chickens will fly straight away”. (i.e. the bribes would be paid straight away)” (…)”On 7th June 2010, Nick Smith informed Trevy that S&O wanted to start printing the Referendum ballot papers on Monday 14th June in order to deliver them by 10th July [AFM 0224]. Four batches of Referendum ballot papers (totalling 14.51 million ballot papers) were dispatched between 20th June and 28th July 2010. The shipping invoices show the total value of those papers was £361,299.01. [AFM 0218, AFM 0217, AFM 0199 and AFM 0203]. The specific value for the last 10,000 ballot papers invoiced the IIEC £3,977.19 for a further 121,900 ballot papers and associated forms” (…)”On 14th July 2010, S&O hosted a 3-4 day visit from five officials from the IIEC, namely Hassan, Nyaundi, Oswago, Tororey and Sang [AFM 0172]. Nick Smith directed other staff to make arrangements for this visit, which included booking hotel accommodation for the officials. Hotel costs of £3,010 were later deducted from the bribes paid to the officials, which appear to relate to this visit” (…)”Trevy and Nick Smith agreed to invoice the IIEC for £7,550 for these papers. Trevy reported that he had told the IIEC the cost would be between “5 – 8 thousand pounds”. Nick Smith then suggested the invoice be made out for £7,400 to “subsidise the hassle-factor for the packing lists as there is a lot of time being spent on this” [AFM 0216]. The eventual invoice gave a price of £7,550 [AFM 0309]. Nick Smith told Trevy “I have included the usual commission in this, plus some extra special Trevy consultancy fee…” (…)”S&O made the payments on 25th August and 7th October 2010, sending Trevy payments totalling £172,837.27. The prosecution case that this included £117,065.87 to cover Trevy’s fee (£11,872.05) and the bribes to be distributed to officials in respect of this contract (£108,203.82 minus £3,010 “hotel” costs)”.

This here is not the whole of cases in the note or the whole picture; this is just a show off the viable transaction from the IIEC to their hired company to produce the needed electoral material or ballots through the Smith & Ouzman (S&O). They did this with a set-up through an agent Trevy who fixed the agreement between the IIEC, KEBS and other direct officials. This have been put on the top of the needed monies for the contract either as “chickens” or “commission” has been showed in the document and to the London Court.

This here was a collaborate approach as the company earned money on dealing this way with the IIEC and the Kenyans and continued getting contracts; not condemning the corrupt behavior, but even Trevy at one point felt the IIEC Officials was this on the 4^th February 2010: “these commissioners are seriously fronting and I know they are with punchlines…. they want to reap where they do not sow.”

Even the Agent who facilitated the government officials and let them go with their corrupt behavior and securing them government funds to embezzle through fake invoices and with add-ons that was going to the Officials and not to the Company that sold the material. Even he was angered that they we’re eating without working for what they are sowing. This proves a certain mentality amongst the IIEC that they wanted it this way and wanted “commission” for the buy of government procurement. It was because with these arrangements the Officials got money and the Company made sure they could eat well on the monies spent by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) on Electoral Material to the elections held by the commission. This proves that the need for strong procedure and oversight by ombudsmen to stop this kind of embezzlement and fraud of the government funds. So that the money actually just goes to the Electoral Material, and not as extra fried chickens eaten by the Officials!

That is enough for today. Peace.

Uganda – Election Petition No. 1. of 2016 : “1st Respondent’s answer to the Petition” (06.03.2016)

Nobert Mao at a Polling station in Gulu – Youtube-Clip (18.02.2016)

“Uganda: Democratic party president Nobert Mao turns to cast his ballot on February 18, 2016 with an iPad to capture every development”.

Worth taking a look at and listening to, the man who has been voting for a long time. Also the view on how the process and the way voting where going. As a former presidential candidate, it is a good insight to hear him give his view and aspect from Gulu. Peace.

A few reports on the voting in Uganda; Deliberately late arrival of ballots in Kampala; and more!

 

The Social networks are supposed to be down as the Electoral Commission in accord with Uganda Broadcast Commission have decided that showing the election is an dangerous activity; so it is not allowed on the polling day; and also the Money transfer services through cellphones will also be discontinued for the moment. As Airtel, MTN and Uganda Telecom have disbanded WhatsAPP, Twitter and Facebook. The people have started to use VPN and Tunnelbearer App to cross the barricades to the social to address the world of the events unfolding.

“CONFIRMED: Uganda Communications Commission (UCC): Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, mobile money services blocked due to ‘security reasons’. UCC says Facebook, Twiiter, WhatsApp, mobile money services will be unblocked ‘after assessing the security situation” (NBS TV, 18.02.2016).

Well, that is just the Social Media, the more important the ballots and Polling stations! There the democracy in action is happening. Following this; more to come!

“Mzeei Haruna Kabirizi shares his disappointment with the delay in the voting process. Agip Polling Station, Kisuggu ‪#‎UgandaDecides Video: Mabala Rachel” (Daily Monitor).

In Kampala:

The general reports is that in Kampala, Makindye and Wakiso district the voting material has not come in expected as the Electoral Commission says is systematic difficulties. While the voting has started in Gulu, but not in Nakawa or other parts of Kampala; this here must been seen as deliberate actions to get the people to wait for hours, to see if they really want to vote in the elections. No voting has started in Kawempe, the reports comes of all the different voting stations in the city. If it starts it starts hours after anticipating opening time. Instead of early morning it’s about lunch time, and with the new voting regulations the polling stations closes earlier then in previous elections!

“Presidential candidate Maurine Kyalya’s National ID details not in the voters register. The biometric system seems to only be having details contained in the voter location slips that were distributed late. Its widespread”.

In Busia:

Happening now Bumirambako In Busia polling station….Many People Are Being Denied To Vote While Their Names Appear on The Register Bse They Don’t Have National ID.

In Entebbe:

“At Kiwafu Primary School like a number of places in Entebbe Municipality, presiding officers and other polling officials didn’t turn up because of little pay. Now polling assistants who are not so versed with the exercise are in charge” (Daily Monitor, 18.02.2016). 10pm and Mpala polling station still in entebbe has no voting exercise taking place. No ballot papers.

In Rukungiri:

“There is a heavy presence of the members of the fourth estate in various polling centres in uganda. Am here at Rukungiri as a UN Observer. Besigye is about to cast his vote here at Rukungiri”.

In Kabale:

There has been mix-up of ballots and the election in town is called off apparently.

“DOKOLO SOUTH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CANCELLED – It was called off this morning by the returning officer Benjamin Ewal” (Urban TV, 18.02.2016).

Dr. Kizza Besigye doing his civic duty earlier today!

This here is the beginning. I will come with more as this comes. This here will be as crazy and amazing as the NRM Primaries on steroids. As Dr. Badru M. Kiggundu doesn’t have the arrogance as Dr. Tanga Odoi in the NRM EC. This here will continue to shade the darkness of the dictatorship of the NRM regime. The proof of the fear of spreading information is the UCC censorship of the Social Media today, as the ironic shut down of mobile money as he voters been bought with cash-money buy the ruling regime for several weeks now and even pictures of Ministers and even the Prime Minister giving money for votes in recent weeks. This here is more a following then an analysis or commentary. But the ironic measure has to be said! Well, continue to vote and try to vote as the material arrives at the Polling stations! The Regime is stifling the process deliberately. Continue to stay strong! Peace.

Kiggunddu faces tough time convincing Uganda Law Society of EC readiness for elections (Youtube-Clip)

“Chairman of the Electoral Commission Dr. Badru Kiggundu had a torrid time during a meeting with members of the Uganda Law Society, the umbrella body of lawyers in the country. During the meeting that focussed on the readiness of the commission to conduct free and fair elections next month, Dr. Kiggundu held his own, insisting that his team was doing everything in its power to deliver a credible election s expected. But as Raymond Mujuni reports, Dr. Kiggundu said the commission would not hesitate to call on the army for help if the need a intervention” (NTV Uganda, 2016).

Fear-Mongering from the NRM-Regime is getting to aggrevating levels in the final stages before the polls

The surge of violent words from the regime days from the polls is worrying, that the Crime Preventers are getting rifles, should also be a sign of the fear the NRM-Regime is putting in place, as the Electoral Commission getting the ballot-paper tomorrow, the NRM Secretary General is also going against the public and giving a free pass to shoot and kill demonstrators against vote rigging. Take a look!

Earlier this week NRM Secretary General said this while talking to the press:
“We shall shoot anyone who will come on the streets to demonstrate against vote rigging. I warns those young people who are planning that, we shall shoot and kill them”.

You thought that was enough? Well, IGP Kale Kayihura also to had this to say:
“We are going to change you from having sticks to rifles and get ready to defend this country in case of any attack… We shall not hand over power to the opposition to destabilize the peace which we fought for” (NBS TV , 27.01.2016).

Well, the NRM and the Police is spreading fear days before the general election. That NRM SG has to tell people demonstrate against the vote rigging that they will die. Initially means if the NRM rigs the General Election in 2016. Voters and citizens in her view doesn’t appeal or matter, since their voice can be shut down, or in her words shot down if they disobey their rule, even if they rig the polls to fit the NRM-Regime.

Then the Police and IGP Gen. Kale Kayihura is defending the surge of hiring people to become Crime Preventers, as that is the essential strategy. I am sure that the peace that he talks about is not the same as President Museveni was talking about in 1986 when he said this: “Another important aspect of the committees is that they should serve as a citizens’ intelligence system. If I go to address a rally in Semuto, Rape-ka or Nakaseke, I shall first meet the muluka and gombolola committees in the area. They will tell me whether the muluka chiefs are thieves, or the hospital personnel are selling drugs, or whether there are soldiers in the area who are misbehaving. They are thus able to act as watchdogs for the population and guard against the misuse of power” (Museveni – “National Address” 26.01. 1986).

The Crime Preventers will get guns and not listen to the people if they want somebody else then the NRM-Regime, then they will shoot, the same people I guess as NRM SG Lumumba going against the demonstrations, if they react to the supposed rigging of the General Election in 2016. They are supposed to defend the peace that NRM fought for, but that means by his statement that they fought for their own freedom, but not the people, since they will not without guns give up power and therefore giving the Crime Preventers rifles instead of sticks. Then they are a proper NRM militia who will work as interhamwe did in their day.

The Police and NRM is going too far in their oppression of opposition if they will live by the standards IGP Gen Kale Kayihura and SG Justine Kasule Lumumba they are proving that they are misusing power since they oppress the citizens if they demonstrate or act against their vote being stolen from them. If IGP Gen. Kale Kayihura doesn’t see the danger of arming the militia of Crime Preventers as they have no code of law under them and doesn’t have a fixed place yet as the once securing peace in the country.

That Kayihura fears the opposition is understandable, he has a bad track-record of behavior towards them and have ordered mass arrests and shut them down when they try to meet and greet people, while the President can walk around as he please. There is something wrong with that picture. The Crime Preventers are to shut down the opposition and to generate peace, they are installed as a unit to spread fear in the public, not to serve the community and make it peaceful during the General Election. Especially if they need guns, that NRM SG Lumumba can use to shoot and kill the once reacting to their votes being ticked off or stuffed ballot boxes, even if the numbers are manufactured instead of the wish of public. The violence they speak of is malicious and dangerous.

The aggravated and assault on the citizens is staggering. That they address and threats the public in the midst of final stages before the general elections. This here is vicious and attack on public opinion and freedoms, the fight that matters is the ones that happen 30 year ago, and not what the public is living through today. As the NRM SG is blatantly putting is that the only vote that matter is the NRM vote, because if it isn’t and demonstrate against, then you’re a target and accessible to hunt down. In the end kill if they muster, in that sense it doesn’t help that Kayihura is getting rifles for the Crime Preventers. That they are fighting for the peace. This is misuse of power that the old-man with the hat would have addressed differently in 1986 than he does today. That is because he wants the power and not following the public and will of the citizens. That is why Kayihura use the Crime Preventers as a tool to spread fear and shut down democratic behavior… as NRM SG has no wish for either, as the demonstrations against their rigging will end up with demonstrator’s demise, which is if this is more than words. Then the public should address these threats and show their defiance against the oppressor who tools with rifles and killing of public anger towards thieving the coming elections. Peace.

Who is Dr. Tanga Odoi? (Youtube Clip)

Interesting to know when we see how the NRM Primaries is unfolding. He must surely be stressed by how it has happen yesterday and today. Well, he didn’t learn everything that went wrong in 2010, since there has unfolded certain things he wouldn’t want to see here in the 2015. Peace.

The Proposed changes and added amendments on the Election laws that can be seen as preparation for the Election in 2016 in Uganda.

On the 25^th September 2015 three amendments will be read for the parliament. These Amendments are the President Elections Amendment Bill of 2015, Parliamentary Elections Amendment Bill of 2015 and the Electoral Commission Amendment Bill of 2015. They are all interconnected and will be a part of the preparations to the election that is happening in 2016.  All the Amendments comes from the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Hon. Fredrick Ruhindi

The Main parts of the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill of 2015:

Parts of the bill with revise the requirement for a candidate to campaign in every district in Uganda and to stop the polling stations at 4:00PM on the polling day. Another main part of the bill is that nominations fee for the candidate will go from Shs. 8Million/= to the the new fee of Shs. 20Million/=.

The first issue with the candidate is that with the surge of districts make it difficult for a candidate to be in all the new districts before the polling day while campaigning. The second one is for fitting the economic environment that is different than in 2005.  The third issue is that the polling time is set from 5:00PM to 4:00PM to give the Electoral Commission more time to count the votes.

And a new amendment to proof the voter’s identity:

“a fourth table located at least ten meters from the ballot boxes where every voter, after deposing the ballot paper into the ballot box, shall proceed and the thumb or other finger on the voter’s right hand determined by the commission marked with or applied with inedible ink as one indicators that the voter has cast the ballot”.

The Main parts of the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill of 2015:

First part of the bill is to get four representatives of persons with disabilities to be elected by Electoral Colleges Constituted in accordance to the four traditional districts: Central, Eastern, Northern and Western regions. The second part of the bill is on the nomination fee for the candidate will go from Shs. 200k/= to new fee of Shs. 1Million/=.

The Main parts of the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill of 2015:

First part of new amendment is: “The commission shall, not later then two weeks before polling day, transmit to every political party and organization and independent candidate taking part in the election, an electronic text based copy of each voters’ register which the commission shall use on polling day”.

Second part is that the Commission has to employ one a District Election Administrator and an Assistant Election Administration. The District Election Administrator has the supervision, is in charge and custody of the voters’ in the district, and also seeing through the manner of the voters registers. Important character that the Administrator need is integrity, high moral and also “a person taken to have behaved in a corrupt manner in relation to his or her duties if he or she commits any act of dishonesty in connection with his or her duties, whether or not it constitutes a criminal offence”.

Third part is: “the Commission shall, before the display of the copy of the voters’ roll publish in the Gazette and in the print media, a list of all the places at which a voters’ roll is required to be displayed under this section”.

Aftermath:

The Presidential Candidate first gets more expensive to pay the nominee fee as a candidate it goes up Shs. 12Million from the 2005 to the total of Shs. 20Million and was at 2005 set to be Shs. 8Million. Everybody understands that’s a viable and big fee change and the argument is for the economic climate that has changed since 2005. If the value of the shilling has devalued that much in about ten year period that the candidate must pay over double of the fee, then the economic system has server issues.

The Second change is the time that is set from 5:00PM to 4:00PM on the polling station at the Election Day to give more time for counting. I am sure that this will be more of a statuary fix. The counting will have enormous ability to be manipulated after the votes are cast. The time set or fixed times is just an small tweak.

The third change in the Election laws are the thumb print that each voter has to get before casting the ballot. This will be sign of ink on the thumb proving that the voter has cast his or hers ballot. It’s a nice fix especially thinking about how the reports was a last election that people and military personal was bussed between voting stations to vote multiple times. With the ink on the finger it should be harder to dupe this one and the officials should easily see the print of ink on the thumb if a person tries to vote twice.

Fourth change is that a nomination fee for representatives for the disability goes up to Shs. 1Millon. There will also be four representatives one each representative from traditional districts: Central, Western, Northern and Eastern. This is in general a nice gesture to the community with applying that the Parliament gets people with special needs to the Parliament from now on.

Fifth change is that each political parties and independent should at least receive the voters register before two weeks before the polling day.  This is good thing to give them time to see the registers and check it. Might even give feedback to the Electoral Commission on shortfalls for the registration of voters in districts and municipalities that is necessary, though two weeks are little, if the registers are big who would have the capacity to oversee and scrutinize the register?

Sixth change is the additional new staff each district need. The new staff by the law is now District Election Administrator and Assistant Election Administrator who will look over the Polling and Election in the District. The person who will be hired has to have a moral compass, integrity and not act in a corrupt manner. All of the ones that are put into law are not exceptional this is what they should be as members of society and also professional people delivering and serving their nation and government so that the citizens can be sure of a valid result. A result and poll that is efficient and following procedure so that the tally can be justified and also being correct. Because if the Election Administrator doing their job and picking the right people, not letting the Electoral Commission having ability to trick the numbers or anybody else. Then the ballots and elections would be less rigged and actual have trustworthy people doing their jobs. If not, this is just a nice on paper and we still see the same issues in the Districts and clear the ballots for a free and fair election in 2016.

Seventh change is the publication in the Gazette or in print media. Where the Voters roll will be published, that is just a good thing. And proving to the public that the results getting official and can be explained. That should have already been there and is basic of official and public order, with this the Electoral Commission proves that it does it actual job in the election.

This all should be seen as interesting and see if this get voted in. If this gets official law it will have some effect on certain aspects on the coming election and the later by-elections as well. Since the signs of the public and local display will be visual with the thumb print and the District Electoral Administrator getting a vital role in procedures of the polling. Also the establishment of higher nomination fees for Presidential Candidates and also Special Disability representative which is total 4 representative one from each traditional regions. That is a great sign of all of the laws.

I don’t want to write for the third time what the laws says, but the issue is that it’s really patchwork and also quick fixes. If they will play big in the election is time to tell. And see if the next Commonwealth Report of 2016 will be as harsh as it was on Presidential Election in 2011. Peace.

Press statement – Preliminary Statement – June 10. Zimbabwe Parliamentery By-Elections (10.06.2015)