By Hussein Kiganda
The Uganda Musicians Association (UMA) electoral commission (EC) has announced June 8 as the new date for the association’s elections following the cancellation of the chaotic online polls that were held on June 6.
In a statement released today, June 14, the EC said the polls would be held at the National Theatre in Kampala, as the only polling station.
“The elections shall be held by secret ballot and the elections shall be carried out at one polling centre in Kampala for proper supervision,” the statement read in part.
The association’s policy board explained that the decision to have one polling station was reached at due to the lack of enough funds.
“Due to the high cost of organising countrywide elections, we have decided that our members will have to come and vote from Kampala. It was a difficult decision to make considering the financial circumstances of some of our members, but it was the last option available,” said Sophie Gombya, the vice-chairman of the (UMA) policy board.
This will, however, affect one of the UMA presidency candidates (Cindy Sanyu), who claimed that she had decided to put all her efforts outside central Uganda, saying she had realised that her opponent King Saha had more support in the area.
“It’s a political strategy to have my support outside Kampala. I found out that Saha had support in Kampala and I decided to maximise mine outside the city,” she said.
This means that Cindy’s supporters who are not financially stable will not be able to travel to Kampala to vote her.
