Transparency:Upholding voters’ will

The results of yesterday’s guild elections at Kigali Health Institute (KHI) were declared null and void due to alleged rigging that led into non- corresponding figures.The institution’s Director of Human Resources, Leonard Kagemanyi told The New Times that fresh polls would be conducted after the 18th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.In an interview yesterday, Kagemanyi explained that the number of ballot papers was more than the number of voters, hence the nullification of the results."We have started thorough investigations to establish why the figures do not correspond. The dean of students is closely monitoring the situation,” he said.Kagemanyi revealed that students would be required to vote in a new arbitral committee that will in turn organise fresh elections after commemoration events. "As the school administration, we cannot recommend the existing arbitral committee to organise new elections because they were in charge when the chaos occurred.” When contacted, KHI’s outgoing guild president, Michael Mugisha, explained that an influx of unregistered students may have led to the irregularities."Most of our students were out on internship and some of them turned up late and it became difficult to control them,” he said. "It’s very unfortunate that such unnecessary chaos arose, but it will be a lesson for us to learn how to conduct transparent elections in the future,” said Augustin Muhirwa, a contender for the guild presidency.