The Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) has implored the Independent electoral commission to prioritize civic and Voter education a head of 2021 elections.
According to party spokesperson Micheal Osinde, currently civic and voter education is fragmented, uncoordinated and done in isolated piece meal interventions by mostly of various actors from ministry of information and National guidance to National Leadership institute in Kyankwanzi, ministry education among other agencies.
He says that civic and voter education often comes late,close to voting time when some voters have already made up their minds yet financial and other resources are also spread thin across various organizations.
Speaking to the media at the party headquarters, Osinde said that there is need to first pass the draft civic education policy 2013 and then to establish, agree on the concept of civic education and coordinate effectively.
"Civic and voter education should not be a one off,but it should be a process,a culture and part of peoples daily lives,we should move out of civil servants,NGO workshop and schools to trade unions,farmers groups,market vendors association,sports clubs,traders associations and Families." said Osinde.
The civic and voter education is captured in the 1995 constitution,the national development plan II,Uganda’s vision 2040,African Union Agenda 2063 and the sustainable development goal number 16 on peace ,security,justice and building Institutions.
He further noted that there is need to promote platforms that facilitate interactive engagements among various stakeholders from politicians to policy makers, researchers, academia, practitioners and the general public in which the ideas of the democracy that Ugandans desire as a country are discussed openly and truthfully to generate minimum consensus.