Voters in the National Resistance Movement primary elections in Kasese are puzzled about the disappearance of voting materials.
Buduwe Masikati, the NRM Kasese deputy registrar, says five sub-counties in the district have not received ballot papers or ballot boxes. He says only one of the three divisions in Kasese Municipality received materials and voting there had to be suspended because of protests from election candidates.
By midday there were still no answers to solve the mystery of the missing materials. NRM members are calling for the suspension of the election since it is too late in the day to vote and there are fears that polls held at night will be rigged.
Ronald Mbaguta, a contender for the Kasese Municipality parliamentary seat, claims that there is an elaborate scheme to rig the elections. He says he received information that at 5 a.m. today a click of senior NRM members met at the party office in Kasese for a secret meeting.
Mbaguta suspects that the meeting, which other party members were not informed of, was held to plot today's chaos. He says he is beginning to lose faith in the NRM.
Gideon Mujungu, another Kasese Municipality MP candidate, also claims to have information of a conspiracy to rig the elections. He says a group of people held a meeting two days ago and discussed how to manipulate the elections in Kasese Municipality and Busongora North constituency. He refuses to name any of the people involved in the deal.
The Kasese district security team is now in a meeting with the candidates to discuss resolutions to the problem. The Resident District Commissioner, James Mwesigye, says he hopes an amicable solution will be found soon.
Several candidates say the only meaningful solution will be the temporary suspension of the vote. The want the municipal party chairperson, Betty Masereka, to resign from her seat for mismanaging the election and are calling for the removal of Abdul Kaluma Matovu, the NRM Kasese vice chairperson for being absent from office on election day.
