First of all, I congratulate the Masaka Magistrate for defying and defeating the weak reasoning that has, for a long time, defeated the will of the people in the name of broken seals. In the first place, there are other critical considerations to take into account.
1. It takes two to tangle. To begin with, who is breaking the ballot box safety seals? Who has access to the ballot boxes stores? Can anyone break the seals without the knowledge of senior election officials, and yet no one is punished? Are election officials working with the opposition to defeat the @NRMOnline? This has become a norm, because every time there is a recount, broken seals excuse seem to favor the opposition.
The integrity of an election recount should not be reduced merely to the issue of broken seals. It should be assessed logically. All seals can be traced because each one is recorded. In 2021, in Sempijja Vincent vs Katabazi Francis, a recount was ordered, the same broken seals excuse was given to stop the recount.
2. I am now convinced that among all the excuses raised, no one has claimed that other ballot boxes seals were removed and replaced with unofficial seals. Logically, this implies that election officers have a case to answer. By extension, whatever irregularities occurred at the tally center were intended to defeat Nameere’s petition.
3. According to Nameere’s consistent narrative, she won an election but later disenfranchised by election officers aided by security forces. Therefore, she could not have accessed the ballot boxes with the help of the same people she accused of colluding to defeat her. Common sense thus confirms that Nalubowa and election officials must have been working together.
4. What is even more convincing is that all ballot boxes that were tampered with were not counted. This further confirms the integrity of the recount.
My takeaway from this entire exercise is simple: charge and punish anyone responsible for the storage of election materials in the future to ensure that the “integrity” itself is protected.
NOTE: The Magistrate’s firmness and boldness in defying the weak and lame logic that once a seal is broken the recount must be suspended may have set a precedent. It has opened the eyes of many to the fact that tampering with seals is often used to cover up the rot that election officials have benefited from for a long time.
In this whole mess, it is evident that election officials have been aiding the opposition to rig and cheat in elections. There is no way Nameere could have been aided to stuff ballots prior to the recount, yet she was accusing security and election officials of cheating in favor of her competitor.
I congratulate His Worship Asiimwe once again for defying the sick and lame logic surrounding broken seals, and I also congratulate Nameere Justine for being assertive and recovering her victory.
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