The police say that they have raided an event at Hotel Africana, Kampala, probably involving members of Civil Society Organisations who intended to carry out their own tallying process of the 2021 general elections.

Speaking to NTV Uganda, Fred Enanga the Police spokesperson said that intelligence received by the security agency alerted them to the event that he termed as illegal, which led them to raid it.

“Our task teams together with our cyber experts have raided the place and are trying as much as possible to verify and come up with evidence to prove that this was a parallel tallying centre,” Enanga told NTV Uganda.

The Electoral Commission is the only institution allowed to tally the votes for the general elections. The 2021 general elections tallying centre is at Kyambogo. Enanga says that such parallel tallying centres pose a threat to the country’s security.  

“You do not know what motive these parallel tallying centres have. The could come up with decelerations that could spark violence in this country,” Enanga said.

Enanga was giving a security update on the 2021 general elections when he made these remarks. He said that overall, the election process went on smoothly. However, some of the candidates have criticised the heavy police deployment at various polling centres saying that it is scaring voters away.

The issue of transparency has been raised by other candidates who pointed out that the internet shutdown and limitations at polling centres reduce their trust in the Electoral process.

The police has not mentioned names of the suspects involved in this parallel tally centre.