Most candidates in 2021 election are just “merchants after money” – Activists

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |   Civil Society Activists Campaigning against commercialized politics say that the will of the people to vote for useful leaders has been distorted by too much money being used by those aspiring for office.

The activists called for action against the growing political commerce during an Online conference spearheaded by the Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring -ACFIM, where several CSOs agreed to enhance advocacy for development of tougher laws and regulations on campaign finance to prevent the excessive influence of money in politics.  

The ACFIM executive director Henry Muguzi said that the more popular democracy has become, the more circulation of money in the election process, hence a big threat to the quality of leadership the country gets.

He added that most people seek leadership in political parties and national offices to use influence of the office to enrich themselves and hence something should be done to curb the situation ahead of Uganda’s 2021 general elections.

He also revealed that increase in commercialized politicking attracts scavengers especially from outside or foreign agents such as Terrorists, Arms Dealers and other people with commercial laundering interests who offer to support people’s campaigns in exchange for selfish promises from the would be elected leaders.  

The executive director Transparency International Peter Wandera noted that available statistics show that corruption increases when most countries are organizing elections an indication that most money being used to finance campaigns is illicit 

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