Concern over ‘hijacked’ voters

ALMOST 2000 people in the Kagua-Erave electorate of Southern Highlands will again miss out on voting for their candidates in this year’s general elections if their names are not reinstated in their proper council wards, it has been revealed.
A member of a prominent family in Kagua, Rose Tulapi, said their names were “hijacked” in the 2012 elections from the Sumi 1 and Sumi 2 council wards and placed on the common roll for the Yanguri 1 and Yanguri 2 council wards in the Aiya Rural local level government.
“My family and many of our people missed out on voting in the 2012 elections because our names were hijacked from our proper council wards and placed in different wards,” Tulap told The National yesterday.
“We will miss out again in the 2017 elections if the Electoral Commission does not take urgent steps to reinstate our names in the Sumi 1 and Sumi 2 council wards.”
Tualpi said Sumi had a total population of about 4000 people but half of them would again be denied their constitutional rights to vote in the June elections.
She said although Sumi and Yanguri were in the Aiya LLG, they were separated by 20km of “rough terrain and enemy territory.”
“The Sumi people have every right to vote in their council wards and not have to cross rough terrain and enemy territory to cast their votes,” Tulapi said.
She called on the Electoral Commission to ensure the common roll “cleansing” exercise was fully implemented in the Kagua-Erave electorate to stop the hijacking of voters’ names and reinstate eligible voters in their proper council wards.