By Frank Kamuntu
Kampala: The United States Embassy and the British High Commission have submitted a list of 46 observers to the Electoral Commission seeking accreditation to observe the 2021 elections.
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The letter establishes that the new US Ambassador Natalie E. Brown is part of the team that will observe the elections.
Letter partially reads, “In reference to Note Verbale PRO/380/01 sent by Ministry of Foreign Affairs to foreign missions regarding election observation, this is to notify you that 46 British High Commission staff will be taking part in the election observation and monitoring exercise during the upcoming general elections on 14 January 2021.”
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It is worth noting that last month, Attilio Pacifici, the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Uganda said that the EU delegation hopes to put together a group of between 70 and 80 people divided into 20 teams who will traverse the country observing the election process.
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But also, it should be remembered that in June this year, the Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Uganda, Ambassador Attilio Pacifici said that the EU will not deploy election observers as Uganda votes in 2021 saying that they were not invited.
However, this was trashed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the government on December 18, 2019, and later on July 3, 2020, extended an invitation to all diplomatic missions EU inclusive and international organisations accredited to Uganda and are interested in observing the polls.
EU has been primary observers of Uganda’s elections including the 2016 General Election after which its observation mission issued a final report recommending reforms in 11 areas with a view of improving the electoral framework for future elections.
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The team also recommended, among other things, granting of the EC sole regulatory power over key electoral processes, including registration of voters, polling and tallying, redrawing constituency boundaries to address disparities in numbers of voters per constituency, and ensuring the integrity of results by among others publishing the full results online.
