While I have to admit that I am not the most conscientious of voters, I am surprised that even with the widespread availability of technology today, the gimmickry of salt and soap politics are still very much at work in politics in East Africa- specifically Uganda. Whereas technology serves as a great tool for knowing exactly how and where one should expend their campaign coins, politicians and newbies alike are still depending on the trusted henchman and cursory observations to determine where and how to campaign.
Uganda's electoral commission posted details about every single registered voter (albeit a tentative list) along with their names, divisions, parishes and date of birth on the Internet. Interesting. After mining that data for Makindye division, we generated a summary picture of the number of voters- give or take 100 and about 5% margin for error, the age group with the biggest number of registered voters and somewhat not surprising- the percentage of voters who are female.
The parliamentary campaigns are doing 'Business as usual' and unfortunately the only people trying to use some numbers are the usual suspects with poll results skewed in favour of the loudest vendor.
That's why I love Ory Okolloh- she set a precedent; using technology to capture the political atmosphere. If technology cannot be used to mine readily available data to inform the political campaigns, then perhaps the election has already been called and we can all get back to business as usual.
To view Enterprise Technology's Makindye Electorate Fact file, click here and then give us your feedback. Hell, hit us with all you've got.
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