The Electoral Commission has deployed a new registrar as the Soroti City East by-election roadmap takes shape. The commission has deployed the Nwoya returning officer, Christian Eyu to preside over the by-elections.

She replaces Charles Egimu, the Soroti City registrar who is being accused of siding with the opposition Forum for Democratic Change-FDC party. The Electoral Commission chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama said that Egimu will continue with other electoral activities like presiding over the ongoing women’s council election but will step aside during the Soroti East by-election.

In a letter authored by a former candidate for Soroti East Constituency in 2021, Herbert Edmund Ariko, Egimu is faulted for allegedly siding with the FDC.

“One very fundamental issue that Papa Bisanga and Ndugu Musa Oroma should raise at the meeting with EC is the change of the Returning Officer, Soroti, and his officials. The gentleman is clearly an FDC sympathizer”, a post that was allegedly written by Ariko and shared on WhatsApp forums in Teso reads in part.

“I mention this without any fear of contradiction. Otherwise, ask me about the results of brother Latiff and the cause of the confusion about boundaries Parliament had passed,” Ariko added in the same post.

The same issue was highlighted by FDC’s Paul Omer who is the Soroti East Division Mayor and Teddy Acham, the NRM mobilizer in Teso during the EC engagement with stakeholders in Soroti on Friday.

However, Pascal Amuriat, a former Soroti City Mayoral candidate, says that Egimu has been very impartial and honest while executing his duties. Amuriat who is also an aspirant for the Soroti City East by-election, says that his replacement must be on personal grounds not professionalism.

Sarah Inachu, a former candidate for the Soroti East Division, says the accusations are based on assumptions aimed at causing intrigue, hate, and violence against individuals during the by-election.

According to the road map released by the Electoral Commission, the update of the voter’s register for the Soroti East by-election ends tomorrow in each of the thirteen wards (parishes) in the division. This will be followed by the display of the voter’s register.