Women Situation Room has asked security personnel to protect election observers.
The women made the call on Tuesday, at Hotel Triangle in Mbarara at the launch of the Situation Room call center. The center with a free call number 0800333436 will receive complaints from observers and citizens on election violence. 15,000 women and youth have been trained and will be deployed as observers across 33 different districts considered hot spots during the 2021 elections.
The call centers have been established in Mbarara, Kampala, Gulu and Soroti. For Mbarara, the call centre will receive calls from all districts forming Ankole, Kigezi, Toro, and Bunyoro.
Jocelyn Ekochu, the Executive Director CEWIGO and a member of the Eminent Women in the women situation room says observers have been trained to assess the situation and if there is any potential to violence they record and report because they want peace to prevail in the country as Ugandans cast their votes.
The Women Situation Room is a coalition of women picked from other Women organizations to provide knowledge and rapid response to electoral violence before, during and after elections in African countries.
Prof. Joy Kwesiga, Vice-Chancellor Kabale University also an eminent woman, says the women situation room works with other stakeholders among others Police, Army, Electoral Commission, religious leaders’ that will be tasked with responding to the raised complaints within the law.
Regina Bafaki, from ACFODE, asked the candidates to maintain peace and accept the outcome of the results.
In Kasese, the Situation Room flagged off 30 observers ahead of the elections.
Brenda Kugonza the Executive Director Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda- WHRDN-U said the observers will respond on time to incidents of violence.
She says they want the voting process to be peaceful platform where youth, women and all other Ugandans will freely express themselves.
The Kasese District Registrar Atwijukire Ismail Takih asked the observers to be objective and independent in their reporting.
URN