Soot Semee: bringing people together for elections

Election time can be a tense time. Particularly for people living in refugees settlements having fled politically motivated violence in their own countries. In Northern Uganda, the Ugandan government department responsible for refugee camps (OPM) oversaw local elections in the Rhino Camp communities at the end of October, including Omugo zone where the Soot Semee community-centred media project is operating.

These elections are held every two years so that refugee communities can govern themselves while also contributing to stability in the wider Ugandan society. This year Soot Semee podcasts helped encourage participation while also promoting peace during the process.

To encourage participation, Soot Semee programmes provided information on how the elections work. They described how people could apply to be candidates and what qualifications they would need. The podcasts provided a timeline for the elections and announced who the candidates were.

Soot Semee podcasts also encouraged community members not to become divided but to keep together in peaceful co-existence. To support this, one thing that was not allowed on the podcasts was campaigning for votes. This helped maintain impartiality.

However, we were encouraged to hear that several of the volunteers who lead listener groups or organise groups to create content, ended up being voted into community leader roles, including the roles of Omugo 4 Refugee Welfare Council leader and deputy, and the Youth Secretary. When I asked Barnabas about this, he said that people wanted leaders who would ensure that their voices would be heard – and who would also push for good services in the community. The Soot Semee volunteers were not traditional big names, but they had been nominated because people had appreciated their engagement and service to the community. Barnabas told me that some business interests had tried to inject money to push for their choice of leader, but the people had chosen to go with someone they knew cared for the good of the community.

My own community in the Scottish Borders is running council elections this month and I’ve been helping to publicise the timeline and application processes, so I’m getting a taste of how much there is to try and communicate. The Soot Semee experience has got me thinking about how we could encourage more participation here.

The Omugo elections have gone ahead peacefully. In fact based on this recording of election winners being announced, sent to us by the Soot Semee team leader, Barnabas, the elections may even have been enjoyable!