Gov’t rejects EU’s resolutions on elections

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government has rejected the European Parliament resolution on last month’s presidential elections.

On Thursday, members of the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to adopt 19 resolutions taking stock of the human rights violations in Uganda.

Some of the resolutions include; justice and accountability for Ugandans who died in November riots, increasing scrutiny of Uganda’s fiscal management and transparency and systematic review of EU budget support programmes.

They also reiterated the need for sanctions against individuals and organizations responsible for human rights violations in Uganda.

Others include calls for government of Uganda to stop using COVID-19 enforcement in pretext to introduce policies that violate rights and freedoms, condemns suspension and freezing of civil society funds, and attempts to limit civil society funding.

The Parliament also adopted the recommendation to ensure secure and unrestricted internet, ensure freedom of media and journalism, and unconditionally release or drop of all charges against all those arrested and detained for protesting peacefully among others.

But the government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo has described the resolutions as blanket accusations.

Opondo said that for all the people who were arrested, there is credible information linking them to violence, a threat to violence or breach of peace in the run-up to and after the elections.

“Asking Uganda to release suspects already before the courts of law is tantamount to undue interference with a legitimate judicial process,” he said. Opondo added that the EU never sought the government side.

“The EU never wrote to the government to seek clarification to any of the accusations and therefore we consider its resolution against Uganda as unbalanced and biased. We are yet to establish their motive,” Opondo said.

He says that the government will respond to the statement.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa is scheduled to make a statement to the EU Human Rights Council this evening.” Ofwono Opondo.

The European Parliament joins several other institutions and agencies to condemn electoral violence in Uganda. The United States Congress, Human Rights Watch described the elections as full of violence and condemned intimidation and, brutality especially on National Unity Platform-NUP supporters.

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