Some parents have asked the Members of Parliament to set the next elections (2016) in holidays to allow their children of the voting age to participate without much inconvenience.
Students in class
Parents say the Electoral Commission’s slogan that “A vote is every Ugandan’s voice” is some how irrelevant since every time we go for elections, students of voting age are at schools limiting their chances of expressing their voices.
They say that whether the Ministry of Education directs schools to close for elections it becomes expensive for parents to transport students and most the students end up not going back home for elections.
One parent Hawa Mbambu of Kasese who says she still owes Gulu University school fees vowed not to give her son 150,000 shillings as transport “just” for going to Kasese to vote.
“Legislators should liaise with the Ministry of Education and Electoral Commission to reschedule all elections in holidays,” Mbambu syas.
Parents say that apart from transport fares, their children lose study time and miss other services they have paid for at schools. Others talked about the encumbrances of travelling as a major disincentive for students to travel back for voting.
“During elections violence is anticipated, we would rather be with our children after elections,” Umar Masereka a parent at Kasese Muslim in Kasese district lamented.
“Though it is an Act of Parliament that elections shall be held 90 before the expiration of the sitting president’s term; how many Acts has parliament changed”? a parent asked.