NRM CEC changes affected council primaries turnout, says Tanga Odoi

JINJA - National Resistance Movement (NRM) electoral commission chairperson Dr Tanga Odoi says the party’s top management organ CEC is responsible for the general low voter turnout during the party’s local government council primaries.

According to Tanga, the party’s central executive committee (CEC) came up with changes regarding the party primaries, which ended up affecting the lower council party polls.

The changes saw the holding of NRM Member of Parliament seat flag-bearers before local government council leaders, which was not the case previously.

Whereas starting with the local leaders’ primaries was to keep the vibe, he said the MPs argued that once councillors were elected, they would fight them.

However, he didn’t give details on how the legislators were being fought.

“In the CEC, my programme was changed, but I am still happy that it has been peaceful,” he noted.

Odoi made the remarks on July 24, 2025, during his impromptu visit to the Buwenge sub-county tally centre in Jinja district, where he was assessing the progress of the NRM local government council primaries. It should be noted that the ruling party’s July 17 parliamentary primaries had a higher turnout, but had pockets of violence with some individuals losing their lives.

Tanga said he was traversing Busoga region to ensure that he fixed anomalies caused by his team on the ground in the region.

Candidate fragility

Also, he attributed the low turnout to what he termed as candidates' fragility.

“The candidates who were fragile never attracted people, but those who were ready and went into the crowd managed to amass people,” he noted.

Restore the party’s EC credibility

Tanga challenged his team to ensure that they restored the party’s EC credibility following the previous parliamentary exercise, where scores of registrars had been arrested across the country.

His statement prompted the party’s district registrar, Paul Kiwanuka Kabale, to cross-check some of the declaration forms (DR), which he had put aside, citing alteration of results and sought his guidance.

Abudallah Suuta (R), who lost to Moses Batwala for the district LC5 party flag. (Credit: Jackie Nambogga)

A copy from one village in Buwenge town council suggested how the figures had been changed from 49 to 249, yet the words were maintained as forty-nine.

Tanga would then invite the town council registrar to explain the mess, which he attributed to their village registrar, who he said had at first disappeared with the document.

“We looked for the young man to bring the DR papers, but he had disappeared with them, and after calling him after an hour of waiting, we decided to carry the materials to the town council headquarters,” he said.

Tanga, who was flanked by Kabale and acting Jinja Resident District Commissioner Andrew Ntange, addressed supporters who had pitched camp at the tally centre.

“On behalf of the NRM electoral commission and as the chair, anybody who plays about these results will end up in prison,” he told the cheering crowd.

He implored supporters to remain peaceful, insisting that they needed to get results as per the people’s choice, as he showed them Kabale as the overall person in charge of elections in the district.

Registrar beaten, results altered

It was established that voting was cancelled at Lumuli B after the registrar was beaten.
As Tanga left, Kabale kept unearthing more dirt in the LC5 outcome with two DR forms of the same village with different results.

One of such was Kiwagama North village in Budima parish, in Buwenge sub-county, where the sub-county registrar, Paddy Balaba indicated how the incumbent LC5 chairperson, Moses Batwala had scored 360 votes, while Abudalah Suuta got 300.
Another form stated Suuta with 500 and Batwala 100.

At Nakakulwe village in Lumuli B, Twaha Isabirye, the Butagaya sub-county registrar indicated how Batwala had scored 600, while Suuta scored 200, and another sheet reflected 100 and 2.

A similar scenario was at Buwuma east with two DRs, which were all handed over to the police hence the arrest of Isabirye and Balaba, who were detained at Buwenge police post on charges of forgery.

“These are the people bringing me problems where sub-county registrars bring two DR forms of the same village on my table and you don’t get ashamed,” Kabale remarked,
“You can see a real thief and a fool; these are the issues that bring me trouble”.

Tanga said the alteration of results was being done at village level and not at the tally centres.

During the vote tallying, security operatives withdrew a mobile phone from a registrar who had not yet handed in the DR form, but kept informing someone how they were proceeding well.