By Lazarus Apunyo
KARAMOJA: The regional election officer in charge of Karamoja Sub-region, Linos Lima Okori, has cited high illiteracy rate and shortage of magistrates as some of the factors hindering the nomination of candidates.
The nomination of candidates for various elective positions for 2026 general elections started last Wednesday with the LCV chairperson, City mayors and directly elected district councilors, whose nomination concluded on Friday.
Although the exercise started smoothly in other parts of the country, several returning officers across the districts of Karamoja reported low turnout of candidates on the first day as some candidates were still filling the nomination forms.
Okori said that some of the candidates, mostly councilors, did not know how to read and write making it difficult for them to interpret the guidelines and fill the forms within the stipulated time, causing delay in the nomination process.
The 2024, National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) final report ranked Karamoja as the sub-region with the lowest literacy rate of 30 percent, meaning the illiteracy rate is approximately 70 percent.
This is significantly lower than the national average literacy rate and is attributed to factors like deep-rooted poverty, lack of school feeding programs, long distances to schools, cultural practices like livestock farming, and historical injustices against the region.
Okori explained that this compounded by the shortage of magistrates in Karamoja sub-region who are supposed to endorse the nomination forms.
“Most of the districts in Karamoja for instance Nabilatuk and Napak don’t have magistrates. The candidates from Nabilatuk district have to travel to Nakapiripirit to have their nomination forms endorsed by the magistrate, which is quite expensive for them”, said Okori.
In order to salvage the situation, Okori stated, “we are engaging with the electoral commission head office and the judiciary to consider deploying magistrates at the county level and to push the nomination exercise to the county level.”
According to the Electoral Commission Road Map, the nomination of Municipality/City Division Chairpersons, councilors will run from today to Wednesday, 10th September 2025, at district offices.
While the nomination of candidates for the position of Sub-county/Town/Municipal Division Chairpersons and Councilors will take place on Thursday, 11th to Wednesday, 24th September 2025, excluding weekends, at county headquarters.
Nomination of Presidential candidates will run from September 23rd –24th, 2025, in line with Section 8 (1) of the Presidential Elections Act while nomination of candidates for SIGs Representatives to Local Governments is slated for December 8th – 12th, 2025.
Elections of President, Members of Parliamentary and Local Government Councils, including Districts, Cities, Municipalities, Divisions and Sub counties and the representatives of Special Interest Groups will run between January 12 and February 9, 2026.
ALSO READ
- https://radioetoil.com/election-violence-prompts-urgent-security-meeting-in-kotido/
- https://radioetoil.com/kotido-residents-irked-by-police-slow-response-to-crime/
- https://radioetoil.com/moroto-rdc-directs-security-forces-to-heighten-patrols-along-porous-borders/
