Crispin Kaheru
Low voter turnout has marked today’s Kikuube District LCV by-election, raising fresh concerns about citizen participation in Uganda’s electoral processes.
Kikuube District has 132,415 registered voters spread across five sub-counties and three town councils, with 250 polling stations, yet many eligible voters stayed away from the ballot
. Election expert and Uganda Human Rights Commission member Crispin Kaheru said the turnout should worry all stakeholders, noting that when citizens shun the polls it often points to voter fatigue, mistrust, disillusionment, or a growing belief that their vote does not matter.
He stressed that civic and voter education must be a continuous, year-round effort rather than an exercise rolled out only weeks before polling day. “You don’t fatten the bull in the market,” Kaheru observed, arguing that participatory governance is built through daily engagement between leaders and citizens, and that higher turnout in future elections will require stronger, sustained civic participation today.
The election
Polling is underway for the Kikuube District Chairperson (LC5) by-election in western Uganda. The election was organized by the Electoral Commission of Uganda to fill the vacancy left by the former district chairperson, Peter Banura Araali, who tragically died in a road crash on April 4, 2026, Candidates include Paddy Kisembo, the flagbearer for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), and Fenekansi Timanyire, the candidate representing the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP).
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