By Adam Bukenya | Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Norbert Mao, Uganda’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, has guaranteed that regulatory amendments are being worked on to prepare the way for the implementation of obligatory biometric voter verification during the country’s 2026 general elections.

Speaking recently before the National Assembly’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Mao stated that making biometric verification essential during elections could assist to reduce many of the country’s previous electoral anomalies.

The minister in charge of the Electoral Commission was addressing in parliament as his ministry requested additional cash on top of the 201 billion shillings (US$ 54 million) already allotted to it for the fiscal year 2025/2026.

“We need to buy computers with specs to ensure that the part that holds data is embedded and cannot be removed. According to NTV Uganda, Mao informed the committee that the next election would be based on biometric voter verification.

While Uganda’s current electoral law does not allow for biometric verification at voting stations, the Justice Minister stated that the administration is proposing the required adjustments, which will be presented to parliament for consideration and ultimate approval.

“The Cabinet established a committee chaired by the Hon. Chris Baryomunsi [current ICT Minister]. Now he’s coming with his report, which means the bill is back on track. I anticipate Cabinet will accept it before the end of the month, and we will deliver it [here],” Mao informed the committee members.

Despite assurances of progress in efforts to adopt mandatory biometric verification, some parliamentarians chastised Mao’s ministry for inaction and delays in achieving critical electoral reforms before 2026.

The Ugandan government’s decision to implement biometric voter verification follows charges made by President Yoweri Museveni last year that the opposition National Union Platform Party stole almost a million of his votes in the 2021 presidential election.

Biometric machines were utilized in those elections, however system problems caused electoral commission workers to rely on human voter verification, which further hampered procedures. The Electoral Commission later defended itself, claiming that the failures were isolated events.

Museveni now feels that biometric verification should be made necessary and thoroughly integrated into the electoral process to prevent incidents such as ballot stuffing, duplicate voting, and impersonation.

Meanwhile, in light of the planned changes, the Electoral Commission says it will need more funding to purchase new biometric verification machines, as the biometric equipment it borrowed from state agencies such as the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) in previous exercises has experienced major glitches and other functionality issues.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has declared that biometric voter registration for the upcoming elections will begin on April 17, according to Nile Post.