In November last year, a few weeks of longer awaited Local Council elections, the High Court in Kampala and Jinja issued orders blocking the polls. In the Kampala case, a concerned citizen James Tweheyo petitioned the High Court arguing that once the elections of the Village Women Councils and the Committees for the Administrative Units of Local Council I and II held as earlier scheduled, some groups would miss out. He cited advanced secondary school students who were sitting examinations until 8th December as well as their teachers and exam supervisors. The Electoral Commission had set 14th November for the election of Village Women Committees and 21st November for the election of the LCI Committees.

Now after an out of Court settlement with the petitioner, Electoral Commission Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama said they were ready to proceed but the Finance Ministry would have to release more funds. “We have already alerted to responsible authorities that there will be a need for us to have some additional funds. We have already informed the Parliament that we shall need additional funds for us to be able to conclude this exercise appropriately.” Said, Justice Simon Byabakama – Chairman, Electoral Commission. However, he was none committed on the date of the elections.

The Finance Ministry had already released 15.7 billion shillings for the elections. On Wednesday morning, the petition James Tweheyo and his lawyers as well as lawyers from the Electoral Commission agreed on an out of Court Settlement at the High Court Civil Division in Kampala. “But the most important thing is that the parties acknowledged the fact that all the electoral segments and activities cannot fit in one school holiday.” Said, Eric Sabiti – Electoral Commission Lawyer. “Our issue was to insist and to make sure that the learners and the teachers who are in school and the others doing exams at the time who had not had the opportunity to be registered, who had not had an opportunity to participate in the elections are given their due opportunity and they are right anyway to participate. And I am glad the Electoral Commission consented to that, they have agreed to give them chance to register, they have agreed to give them chance to those who want to stand.” Said, James Tweheyo – Petitioner.

The Local Council elections have suffered several postponements. The polls were first set for January but the money was diverted to address the hunger crisis which hit several parts of the country in early February. Uganda has not conducted elections for LCI Village and LCII Parish for nearly 17 years. The last one being held in 2001 before the country moved from the one party movement system to the multi-party system of governance. An attempt to hold LCI election in 2006 was foiled by Court petition by then Opposition Forum for Democratic Change member Maj. Lubaramira Lulanga who challenged the illegality of the pending LC elections under the movement system. He argued that Uganda had embraced the multi-party system, the petition was successful.