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Ugandan MP makes fresh claims of registration of non-Kenyans for polls


A Ugandan Member of Parliament has claimed many Ugandans are being registered to vote in Kenya’s August 8 General Election.

According to the Daily Monitor, Samia Bugwe North MP, Gideon Onyango, claimed it is mainly those residing in districts bordering Kenya who are being registered.

“Enrollment of Ugandans into the Kenyan voter register is massive. This is happening in Busia. My question to the Prime Minister is, ‘Is our [Uganda’s] government aware?’, Mr Onyango posed during the Prime Minister’s Question Time at Parliament on Wednesday, February 15.

The Deputy Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, however ‘stopped’ the Prime Minister,  Rukahana Rugunda, from responding to the question.

“Some of those matters touch on foreign relations. We cannot competently raise them in the form you are raising them,” Mr Oulanyah said.

RECRUITING VOTERS

Charges that many Ugandans are being registered to vote in Kenya’s August 8 polls have been swirling in Nairobi, Kenya since late January.

Opposition leader, Raila Odinga, first made the claims that Kenya’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) is orchestrating the recruitment to boost President Uhuru Kenyatta’s chances of re-election.

NIS has yet to respond to the allegations but President Kenyatta has since refuted the claims.

These claims arrive a fortnight after Uganda police accused Teso South MP Mary Emaase of campaigning and recruiting voters from the country.

Bukedi regional police spokesperson Sowali Kamulya confirmed the incident, saying the Kenyan MP was found campaigning in Amagoro village, Buteba Sub-County, in Busia district.

“You can’t cross from Kenya to Uganda purposely to campaign and recruit voters in a foreign country, which is illegal,” said Kamulya.