At exactly 8:00 am on May 14, I arrived at Wampeewo Primary School polling station in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso district. I wanted to witness, first hand, the process and experience people go through to check their voter details in the voters’ register.
The Wampeewo Primary School polling station has four registers. The first register has 1,538 voters, the second register has 1,411 voters, the third has 1,177 voters, and the fourth has 750 voters. In total, there are 4,876 voters.
I saw a registered voter, Catherine Nandera Ssuubi, being assisted by the display officers to check for her particulars. After checking all the registers, her name could not be located. She was advised to go to the polling station where she votes, Yogemu Primary School.
Nandera, who later verified her details, expressed gratitude to the Electoral Commission for conducting the exercise.
“We thank the Electoral Commission for giving us the opportunity to verify our names. This will help the government to include us during its planning process. We are therefore very grateful,” Nandera said.
I noticed that the majority of voters who come to check their particulars prefer the morning hours. Others come in the afternoon.
I saw that voters who come with their national identity cards make the work of the display officers easy because they just use the names and the codes on the card to locate them.
The Wampeewo Primary School polling station comprises five villages. This means that voters from these villages will check for their names at this polling station.
The display of the voter’s national register is being conducted by the display officers who help the voters to locate their particulars on the register.
A display officer who preferred anonymity said the exercise has been smooth except that during the first days, they experienced low turnout compared to the last days.
“We received a few people in the first days of the exercise, but as you can see, there are many people now because the exercise is about to end,” the officer said.
The display officers usually depart from the station at 6:00 pm.
Sabrina Nabatanzi, a display officer, said that in case of complaints over missing names and other particulars, they use CLN forms to solve these.
The display of the voter’s register concludes today. Have you verified your details?
