UGANDA: DOOR TO DOOR NRM REGISTRATION WORRIES OPPOSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 000007

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/05
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM UG
SUBJECT: UGANDA: DOOR TO DOOR NRM REGISTRATION WORRIES OPPOSITION
PARTIES

REF: 09 KAMPALA 01097; 09 KAMPALA 01323

CLASSIFIED BY: Aaron Sampson, Pol/Econ Chief, State, Pol/Econ;
REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) Summary: Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM)
is going door-to-door to see what persons are NRM members, and
compare the Electoral Commission's voter registry with the NRM's
own findings about party affiliations. Worried constituents called
opposition MPs to report that local government and security
officers are entering homes to inquire about residents' political
allegiances. Out of fear, most citizens will simply say they are
NRM supporters. Opposition leaders fear Security Minister and NRM
Secretary General Amama Mbabazi will use the NRM data to intimidate
Electoral Commission officials into deleting opposition members
from the Commission's voter registry. On December 22, an NRM
spokesman confirmed that government officials are going
house-to-house to update NRM membership rolls in advance of the
February 2011 elections. End Summary.



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Voting For Museveni in 2011?

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2. (C) Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) parliamentarian Abdu
Katuntu told PolOff on December 17 that local government officials
and/or district level security officers are going door-to-door in
some parts of rural Uganda to register residents' political
affiliations. Katuntu, who represents the southeastern district of
Iganga, said he and an FDC parliamentarian from Bugiri both
received calls from constituents who reported that local government
and security officers were in their homes asking whether they
belonged to the NRM. Kantuntu said he instructed his constituents
to say they support the NRM to avoid trouble. On December 18,
local media reported that FDC legislators Kassiano Wadri and
Geoffrey Ekanya informed Parliament that local council officials
are conducting house-to-house registrations of NRM members. Ekanya,
who is from eastern Uganda, said he was told the registrations were
directed by the NRM Secretariat to assess the strength of the party
in advance of the February 2011 elections.




3. (C) On December 24, Katuntu told PolOff that he believes
Security Minister and NRM Secretary General Mbabazi is using the
Uganda Electoral Commission's voter registry to cross-check
internal NRM membership lists and build the NRM's overall
membership database. Katuntu alleged that the Commission's database
is administered by security officers working for Mbabazi, and that
Mbabazi may use the results of the NRM's membership drive to remove
opposition supporters from the Commission's national voter registry
.




4. (C) On January 4, FDC vice president for eastern Uganda,
Proscovia Salaamu Musumba, and members of the Inter-Party
Cooperation (IPC) coalition told PolOffs that NRM registrations are
occurring throughout Uganda, and that Mbabazi is creating a
"parallel" voter registry independent of the Electoral Commission.
Musumba said the Electoral Commission's electronic registry
database is managed by Security Ministry IT personnel who report to
Mbabazi, and that the Security Ministry stores backups of the
Electoral Commission's data at two Ministry offices in Kampala.
Like Katuntu, Musumba said she fears Mbabazi will use information
assembled during the NRM membership drive to delete the names of
opposition supporters from the Electoral Commission's voter
registry.



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NRM: Nothing Unusual

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5. (SBU) On December 22, NRM spokesman Ofwono Opondo confirmed to
PolOff that the NRM is indeed conducting a nationwide survey of

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party members. Opondo said local government officials are involved
in the membership drive, and allowed that in some cases
government-appointed Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) may
have enlisted the assistance of Gombolola Internal Security
Officers (GISOs) to help identify party members. GISOs are
un-uniformed sub-county security officers who report to local
government officials.



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Comment: NRM Intimidation Tactics

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6. (C) Minister Mbabazi announced the NRM's nationwide membership
drive in September, declaring that local level officials should
know and be able to identify all NRM members in their
constituencies (ref. A). In November, Mbabazi's daughter told the
U.S. Mission that the NRM was compiling its own database of NRM
members and registered voters to serve as a check on what the
Mbabazis regard as the Electoral Commission's flawed voter register
(ref. B). A door-to-door canvassing of citizens' political
affiliations by government officials and security officers
indicates how Mbabazi's "membership" drive is impacting Ugandan
voters. Going to private citizens' homes to pressure them to
declare their political affiliations to local government officials
and security services constitutes a serious violation of democratic
electoral processes. It will undoubtedly lead some opposition
supporters to conclude - perhaps rightly - that the integrity of
the upcoming elections is already being compromised.
LANIER