The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
📌 Museveni was due to campaign in:
Dec 29 – Wakiso
Dec 30 – Kampala
Jan 12 – Kampala
📌 Tumukunde was due to campaign in:
Dec 29 – Masaka
Jan 6 – Jinja
Jan 8 – Busiro & Nansana, Kampala
Jan 9 – Kawempe & Rubaga, Kampala
Jan 9 – Kampala Central
📌 Bobi Wine was due to campaign in:
Jan 1 – Masaka
Jan 9 – Makindye & Rubaga, Kampala
Jan 10 – Busiro & Kira & Rubaga, Kampala
Jan 12 – Kira, Nakaawa and Kampala Central
📌 Amuriat was due to campaign in:
Dec 27 – Jinja
Dec 28 – Tororo
Jan 2 – Luwero
Jan 3 – Mbarara
Jan 9 – Entebbe, Busiro & Makindye, Kampala
✳ SEE FULL ORIGINAL SCHEDULE BOTTOM OF STORY
FDC critical of EC decision, say they will continue campaigning
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | Uganda’s already charged 2021 Elections campaign took a dramatic twist on Boxing Day, when the Electoral Commission announced suspension of any political activities in the capital Kampala and several other cities, citing rising COVID-19 cases.
“The Electoral Commission has suspended campaign meetings in districtsand cities categorised by Ministry of Health as having high spread of Covid19. From 26/12/20, no campaign meetings will be held in Mbarara, Kabarole, Luwero, Kasese, Masaka, Wakiso, Kabarole, Jinja, Kalungu, Kazo, Kampala and Tororo,” said EC spokesman Paul Bukenya.
The electoral commission is expected to give details of the suspension tonight, but it takes immediate effect. (see full original programme bottom)
Uganda’s once admired COVID-19 campaign has gone off the wheels, with increasing positive tests and deaths since national campaigns were allowed to go ahead across the country.
The cumulative confirmed cases are now at 33,360, one of the highest in Africa, with 245 deaths so far.
The Ministry of Health has in desperate measures, urged Ugandans not to travel home for the festival season.
📌 FULL EC STATEMENT
UGANDA – Press Statement on Suspension of General Election Campaign Meetings in Specified Areas by The Independent Magazine on Scribd
FDC calls reported EC decision a rumour
Uganda’s leading opposition party the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) immediately contested the announcement by Bukenya, stating that “We have not been informed formally of suspension of campaigns in key districts and cities. We shall therefore treat the rumour with the contempt it deserves. We are continuing with our campaigns in Masaka, and we shall also campaign in Jinja tomorrow, without fail.”
Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine of the NUP party also dismissed the announcement by the EC.
“In real sense, Gen. Museveni has tried everything humanly possible to block us from holding meetings in Kampala, Masaka and Wakiso! This has been the pattern for the last 3 years. The other districts are added here to sanitise their cowardly actions,” Bobi Wine said.
Ugandans are expected to go to polls to elect their president and members of parliament on January 14th, 2021. 10 candidates are tussling it out with President Yoweri Museveni who if elected for the sixth term will collectively have ruled Uganda for 40 years by the end of 2026.
Earlier in the day, the same Electoral Commission said they had kicked off the process of packing presidential and parliamentary ballot papers in preparation to send them to respective districts.
In a press release issued on Saturday morning, the Electoral Commission chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi says the commission received all the ballot papers for presidential and parliamentary elections from the companies that were contracted to print them.
“The packing process is expected to take a period of seven days, after which the Commission will embark on the second round of packing materials for district/city local government councils elections,” the press statement reads in part.
It adds that the ballot papers and declaration of results forms are the last items to be included into the polling kit which is then sealed and the serial numbers of the seals are recorded and shared with political parties and candidates.
These kits the statement says will be stored at the Electoral Commission warehouse awaiting dispatch to the respective districts on a date which will be communicated to stakeholders.
“We wish to emphasize that this timely packing and planned dispatch will enable the commission to deliver the polling kit to all districts on schedule,” the statement says.
Each of the kits other than the ballot papers also contain, declaration of results forms, polling register for the respective polling station, generic polling forms which include accountability of ballot papers, official report book among others, Generic materials such as the ink pad, indelible ink, pens, among others.
Byabakama said in the statement that political parties and all candidates for presidential elections were invited to observe the packing of not only other materials but also the ballot papers and DR forms.
Uganda Presidential Campaign Programme as at 26.12.2020 by The Independent Magazine on Scribd
