Byabakama’s scientific election

Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana, the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) told The Independent on Nov. 19 that it is a culture of impunity within the police that seems to be growing every other day.

“The EC should take charge of the process. The EC is supposed to direct deployment of the security.  NRM-leaning supporters are convening large meetings without any action from police,” he said.

Sewanyana told The Independent that there are four ingredients that make up an election process; the ability of the EC to be neutral, enforce laws; the ability of candidates to campaign freely, access to resources and the media.

“If these are not followed to the letter, the results could be fraudulent,” Sewanyana said.

However, President Yoweri Museveni said during his campaign trail in Kotido District in northeastern Uganda on Nov.19 that the elections will go on as planned amid the coronavirus pandemic and protests. His latest stance was in sharp contrast to his earlier position when the pandemic was infiltrating the communities and the entire country was under a lockdown.

“It would be dangerous and even madness to conduct the election if the coronavirus is not contained by the end of July,” he told a local television station NBS.

“If the virus can stop by June or July, we can have the elections,” he said, “To have elections when the virus is still there will be madness. Countries like Iran went on with the elections when the virus was still around and it caused a lot of problems. It is very dangerous,” Museveni said.

Others voices in government insisted on having the election because the Constitution demands it. The EC has remained silent on the issue of suspending campaigns.

Instead, Byabakama has chosen to caution all the presidential candidates for whichever elective position to desist from holding their campaigns in a manner that violates the guidelines regarding the conduct of campaign meetings.

He reiterated that it is a violation of the campaign guidelines for a candidate and his/her agents to mobilize and/or encourage supporters to gather at campaign venues in large numbers in contravention of the Public Health (Control of COVID-19) Amendment No.3 Rules, 2020 issued on Nov.09 which provides that gatherings for purposes of political meetings should not exceed 200 people.

The Alliance for National Transformation presidential flag bearer, Mugisha Muntu, Democratic Party candidate, Norbert Mao, Henry Tumukunde and John Katumba had suspended their campaigns to show solidarity with Kyagulanyi.

However,  Joseph Kabuleta one of the 11 presidential candidates currently on the campaign trail posted on his Facebook page on Nov.19 saying that suspending campaigns as a form of protest would only serve the interests on one person—President Museveni.

“Boycott would be an effective strategy if Museveni was still capable of being shamed straight but he is not. He can choose to rent crowds in their thousands to follow him on the campaign trail and in the same twist arrest other candidates for gathering crowds of genuine supporters,” Kabuleta said.

“If there is one thing that Dr. Besigye’s 20 years of defiance showed us, it is that the man we are dealing with is beyond any shame or embarrassment. He is beyond the pale. For him, the end justifies the means.”

Kabuleta, a former sports journalist-turned evangelical pastor noted that suspending their campaigns over the various injustices and unleveled ground, our colleagues, Mugisha Muntu, Henry Tumukunde and other boycotters prove that they entered this race under the illusion of fair play.

“I am under such no illusions,” he said, “We are 11 candidates which make for a football team. If two of our players are temporarily and unjustly taken off the pitch, our best chances of victory lie in the remaining nine players pulling up their socks and attacking the opponent ferociously.”

“If they walk off the pitch in protest, the match s easily won by the opponent and remember, our opponent also happens to be the referee,” Kabuleta said.

“I know for certain that if I had been the one brutally arrested, I would have desired that Patrick Amuriat and Bobi Wine carry on the fight in my absence. That is why I am not going to suspend my campaign to try and shame Museveni into leveling the ground because I know he is incapable of shame.”