Vice president and Bukoto Central MP, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi today kickstarted his consultations on the age limit bill in Masaka amidst allegations of bribery and coaching of selected rally attendees. 

Some residents had raised concern over the failure by Ssekandi to hold consultative meetings on the proposed constitutional amendment.

A group of voters in Kabonera, Kyesiga and Kyanamukaka sub-counties asked Mary Babirye Kabanda, the Masaka Woman MP to tell Ssekandi not to bother consulting them. They argued that their position on the bill is clear, they are opposed to scrapping of the presidential age limit, currently capped at 75 years.  

They instead asked Ssekandi and President Yoweri Museveni to retire from active politics since they both fall in the same age bracket.

Nevertheless, Ssekandi went ahead to hold several consultative meetings. According to information obtained by URN, prior to his visit to Kyesiga and Kyanamukaka sub-counties, Ssekandi sent a team led by Mulindwa Birimumaaso, a senior presidential advisor to select and register those who would participate in the consultations.

The advance team met the selected individuals and briefed them on what to say during the consultative meetings.

The attendance list was allegedly used to screen those accessing the venue for the consultative meetings. Those whose names didn't appear on the list were turned away.

Paul Migadde, the former Kyanamukaka sub-county LCIII chairman alleges that those selected to participate in the consultations were told to support the proposed amendment.

Migadde says that when he questioned the criteria used to select participants he was told that only ruling party, NRM leaders in the constituency were invited for the consultations.

He says when he probed further, he was told they didn't want attendees who would embarrass President Museveni and his vice during the consultative meetings.

URN has also learnt that those who attended the consultations received between Shs 5000 and 50,000 depending on their leadership position.

Joseph Kazibwe, one of the NRM leaders who attended the consultations, says they were transported to the meeting venue at Mutima Gardens in Kyanamukaka sub-county. At least 450 people turned up for the consultations.

Kazibwe says each attendee received an allowance after the consultations. Speaking during the consultation meetings, Ssekandi defended the proposed scrapping of article 102 (b) of the constitution, saying there is nothing wrong with deleting the presidential age limit to allow President Museveni to extend his reign.

Ssekandi lashed out at Democratic Party members for fighting the proposed amendment, saying they are misguided.

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After successfully removing the Presidential term limits when he was Speaker of Parliamet, Mr Sekandi is at it this time round as Vice President to remove the age limit.

Who exactly had lost his freedom on the continent of Africa so that this African leader could liberate him:

By Andrew Mwenda

 

February 6, 2017

 

On the occasion marking 31 years in power, President Yoweri Museveni told the nation that he is not a servant of the people but a freedom fighter who works for himself and his beliefs. This let loose the dogs of social media war. But the debate focused on the message and the messenger but not the purpose. It seems to me Museveni intended his message as presented. We can speculate about whom (or even what) he had in mind when he made that statement. But it shows the dangers of speaking off script especially when the target of your message is not your audience.

Opposition leader Kizza Besigye has always touted the president saying he is a servant of the people. There is something about Besigye that rubs Museveni the wrong way. I would like to think, therefore, that the president’s message could have been intended for Besigye. Many analysts are likely to argue that in the fight against Besigye, Museveni has lost his sense of public relations and thereby handed his critics a rope with which to hang him.

For me, the question is: why does Museveni feel confident to speak like that especially given its political costs? Some may think he feels comfortable because he controls the armed forces. But the miss a point; Museveni has survived in power because he never feels confident in it. He is always willing to make the most extreme political compromises and avoid antagonising even weak social groups in order to protect his position. He strikes me as politically unsure of his support base, a factor that makes him a difficult enemy to beat.

 

It is, therefore, possible that Museveni had a different intention in mind. He may have wanted to reinforce Besigye’s narrative that he (Museveni) is in power by force of arms, not the will of the people. This means voting in an election is a waste of time. If this was Museveni’s strategy, many voters will be discouraged from going to the polls. Museveni’s best chance at winning is a low voter turnout. Therefore, it works for Museveni to reinforce Besigye’s narrative.

Wrong servant: President Yoweri Museveni’s message to the nation that he is not a servant of the people but a freedom fighter who works for himself and his beliefs should be scrutinised for purpose – and not focus on the message itself or the messenger as has happened on social media.

Many admirers of Museveni and Besigye may never realise that the political fortunes of these two leaders depend largely on each other’s actions. Holding all factors constant, it would be hard for Besigye to gather momentum without Museveni in the race. It would equally be hard for Museveni to rally his base without Besigye as his opponent. This is the main reason why Uganda political landscape is polarised around two axes that are impregnable.

On one side are Museveni and NRM. Over the years, they have graduated into a mature and fairly tolerant political force but equally an extremely corrupt and incoherent one. They are no longer held together by a shared ideology or policy preferences but by power and the social privileges and material rewards that come with it, undergirded by the armed forces. This has made them tolerable but not loved.

On the other hand is the Besigye faction of the FDC. It began in 2000 when Besigye broke away from the NRM as a centrist democratic force initially seeking to bring Ugandans of divergent views around a common purpose of democratic reform. It has transformed into an extremely intolerant radical faction built around the cult-leadership of Besigye. Compared to the NRM, it behaves like a millenarian cult, loved by its base but intolerable to everyone else. It is now a bigger threat to democracy than NRM.

 

Bapulezidenti ba Afrika abalondebwa nebafuna obuyinza ate baagala okweteerawo kkooti ezaabwe ezinabamaliranga ebizibu byabwe:

By Kizito Musoke

 

Added 4th February 2017

 

Mr Sam Kuteesa

 

Bino byayogeddwa minisita w’ensonga z’ebweru w’eggwanga Sam Kuteesa, bwe yabadde mu lukiiko lwa bannamawulire olwatudde ku Media Centre mu Kampala.

 

Yategeezezza nti eno y’emu ku nsonga abakulembeze ze baasazeewo nga bali mu lukiiko lwa African Union olwabadde mu kibuga Addis Ababa ekya Ethiopia nga January 31, 2017. Kuteesa yagambye nti abakulembeze bakirabye nga kkooti y’ensi yonna eya ICC erina kyekubiira ng’okusinga enyigiriza mawanga ga Afrika.

N’agamba nti abakulembeze bakirabye nga kyetaagisa okussa amaanyi mu kkooti ya Afrika esobole okuwozesa abakulembeze baayo.

 

Abakulembeze ba Afrika baawagidde ekyasaliddwaawo Gavumenti ya Gambia, South Afrika ne Burundi okuva mu kkooti y’ensi yonna kuba tekigasa okubeera mu mukago ogulimu ebyana n’abaana.

Yagambye nti olw’okuba ng’omukago gwa Afrika, gubadde gusinga kuyimirirawo ku ssente eziva mu bagabi b’obuyambi, baakizudde nga tebasobola kweyimirizaawo kwe kusalawo buli ggwanga okubaako omutemwa gw’ensimbi ze guwaayo.

Baasazeewo buli ggwanga okutandika okuwaayo omutemwa gwa 0.2 ku buli 100 ku ssente ze baggya ku bintu ebiyingira mu ggwanga, zigende mu mukago gwa Afrika.

Kuteesa yategeezezza nti kyewuunyisa okulaba nga kkooti y’ensi yonna tennaba kumaliriza kunoonyereza mu misango egiwerako ng’ate emaze emyaka 12 ng’etuula.

Mu lukiiko luno Uganda yapererezza amawanga amalala ne gasemba omulamuzi Solome Bbosa avuganye ku kifo ky’okukiikirira Afrika mu kkooti y’ensi yonna.

Pulezidenti Alpha Conde owa Guinea yalondeddwa ku bwassentebe bw’omukago gwa Afrika, ng’amyukibwa Pulezidenti Yoweri Museveni owa Uganda.

Minisita Kuteesa yavumiridde ekiragiro kya Pulezidenti wa Amerika, Donald Trump eky’okuwera abanoonyi b’obubudamu abava mu nsi ezirimu obutujju obutaddamu kulinnya kigere mu Amerika.

N’agamba nti kiba kikyamu okulowooza nti abantu bonna abali mu nsi ezo bakyamu.

Yategeezezza nti Uganda erina abantu bekolagana nabo abava mu nsi zino nga balungi.

Trump yaweze abanoonyi b’obubudamu okuva mu Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan ne Yemen.

 

Nb

Ono munabyabufuzi siyeyawangula M7 mukalulu ka 1980 wano e Uganda M7 amale agambe nti amubye akalulu? Kkooti ye nsi yonna mbadde nti esala misango gyabantu(humans) so si gyambwa(animals) oba mazike ga Africa! Era Omuwarabu oba Omuzungu nga omuntu anaba asobola okusaba okuwozesebwa mu Court ya Africa singa abafuzi bano bamala ne bagitekawo.

The expired National Resistance Movement system of Governance in Uganda is about to make a come back through the National Local Council Elections:

By Flavia Nassaka

 

Posted 23 January 2017

If held, Local Council One (LCI) elections would be the biggest political event in the country after the Presidential, Parliamentary, and district elections, but it now appears they will not be held any time soon. The question is why?

Part of the reason appears obvious. There was no Electoral Commission to conduct the elections. Although Museveni in November 2016 appointed a new Electoral Commission after the term of the old one expired, they only got sworn in on Jan. 17.

In the past, the official explanation from the government has also been that it does not have money to conduct the elections. But in December last year, the government changed tune and said instead that the Local Government Act under which the elections would be held needed to be amended.

Following the change of tune, Local Government Minister Tom Butime on Dec. 21, 2016 presented to parliament the Local Governments (Amendment) Bill 2016. Surprisingly, it raised very minor issues on areas such as duration of the campaign and display of voter registers that are almost irrelevant at local village election level.

Instead, its major recommendation was an endorsement in the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2014 that provides for lining up behind candidates during elections of chairpersons for village (LC1) and parish (LC2) levels that was passed by parliament on July 24, 2015.

 

The opposition Shadow Minister for Local Government, Mukono North Legislator Betty Nambooze, easily dismissed them.

“We are headed for a repeat of 2014,” she said in reference to controversy caused back then by an amendment that provided for voting by lining up behind candidates instead of using the secret ballot.

“It’s the third time in five years that parliament is amending this law,” Nambooze said.

Nambooze says the exercise has failed. She points at various `excuses’, that the village voter registers, which are supposed to be used in the exercise, have never been compiled, and that what she calls viable administrative units are lacking.

“It creates suspicion as to the motive of government on occasioning such delay if it is not deliberate lack of intent,” she said. She accuses the EC of lacking interest to organise the election.

In a Jan. 15 open letter to President Yoweri Museveni, the Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU), protested the government‘s proposal to have the vote by lining up behind their candidate instead of using the secret ballot.

The coalition of some 800 members across Uganda argued that voting by lining behind candidates fails to meet constitutional and international standards for public elections and could foment conflict and discord in communities.

Despite their protests, the amendments and recommendations were on Jan. 10 passed by parliament and voting in LC I will be by lining behind candidates.

Failure ahead?

Submitting a report on the elections to parliament on that day, Raphael Magyezi, the chairman of the Sectoral Committee on Public Service and Local Government said the government needed to give the EC Shs15.9 billion and conduct the elections by March 15.

But in an interview, the EC Spokesperson, Jotham Taremwa, sounded uncertain about when the elections would be held because until Jan.17 they were working without an Electoral Commission.

“There is even no guiding law in place,” he added, “The president has not yet assented to those amendments.”

This effectively means the LC I elections that had been scheduled for Jan, 17 are once again in limbo. The postponement has led many observers to say Museveni and his NRM party `fear’ the LC I elections because they offer an unpredictable test of grassroots popularity between the NRM government and the opposition.

The last LCI elections were held in 2001. Back then, the country was being governed under a de facto one party system called the “Movement System”. The country has since 2005 been under a multi-party system. In 2006 the LC I elections were frustrated by a Constitutional Court ruling on the petition by then opposition member of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Rtd  Maj Rubaramira Ruranga, who challenged the legality of the incumbent Local Councils because they were set up under a different governance system. He argued that ushering in the multiparty system, required amending the law.

 

AS THE POPULAR BLACK USA PRESIDENT BIDS FAREWELL TO HIS SUPPORTERS IN WASHINGTON, THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA IN AFRICA IS GETTING READY TO REMOVE AGE LIMITS FOR OLD AGE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES:

January 13, 2017

Written by The observer editorial

As outgoing United States President Barack Obama started his farewell speech in Chicago on Tuesday, the crowd interrupted him with chants of “four more years, four more years...”

His response was, “I can’t do it.”

After eight years in the White House, Obama is still loved by many Americans and could arguably have won a third term had he been eligible to stand for elections. However, according to the American constitution, he can’t do it.

Perhaps if he had been at the helm of an African country, he would have been led by supporters to seriously consider amending the constitution to make it possible for him to stay on, as witnessed at home in 2005, in Rwanda in 2016, in Burundi 2015, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo today.

In Gambia, incumbent president Yahya Jammeh was defeated in elections held last month, but he is still trying to cling on against the wishes of the Gambian people.

To be fair, not every African country is a member of this infamous club. Ghana last weekend unveiled a new leader in Nana Akufo-Addo who defeated incumbent John Dramani Mahama.

Nearer home, Tanzania bestowed on the East African region its newest leader in John Pombe Magufuli a little over a year ago, replacing Jakaya Kikwete who retired after 10 years.

Exactly four years from now, Uganda will be holding elections that the incumbent Yoweri Museveni, who will have ruled for 35 years, will not be eligible to stand for.

It is an opportunity for this country, which has never seen a peaceful change of power, to do what it failed to do in 2005 – to stand by its constitution just as the Americans, Ghanaians and Tanzanians have done, even if that means letting go of a leader that still enjoys significant support.

Good Ugandans expect that when the time comes, President Museveni will have the courage to look in the face of his supporters who will inevitably be chanting “five more years, five more years”, and say to them, “I can’t do it”.

 

In Uganda, the discarded National Resistance Movement Governance is making a come back. The popular NRM Local village councils  became unconstitutional upon the country’s reversion to the multiparty system some years back. These elections have now been re-set for January 2017

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11 2016

The minister of State for Housing, Dr Chris Baryomunsi

Posted by David Mafabi

UGANDA, KAMPALA:

The government has announced elections for Local Council I and II will finally be held in January 2017 although the Electoral Commission has expressed reservations on its preparedness for the exercise.

The minister of State for Housing, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, revealed this yesterday when he was speaking at the Lands, Housing and Urban Development Joint Sector Review workshop at the President’s Office. The workshop was held to discuss Uganda’s journey to the middle income status and the role of ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development towards realization of this target.

Dr Baryomunsi was responding to remarks by the Uganda Land Commission chairperson, Mr Baguma Isoke, who said Local Council courts as the first courts of land dispute resolution have not legally constituted since 2001.

“I want to respond to Mr Baguma Isoke, that the cabinet and EC are all aware of the President’s directive to hold LCI and LCII elections in January next year and the budget is ready-- about Shs 37 billion far below the one that was suggested to cater for secret ballot-- about Shs550 billion,” said Mr Baryomunsi.

Uganda has not conducted elections for LCI (village) and LCII (parish) for the last 15 years, the last one having been held in 2001 before the country shifted from the one-party Movement system to the multiparty system of governance.

Attempts to hold the elections in 2006 were thwarted following the Constitutional Court ruling on the petition by then opposition member of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Maj Rubaramira Ruranga (retired) who challenged the legality of the incumbent Local Councils following the country’s return to the multiparty political system,
He argued that the Local Councils which were elected under the discarded Movement governance became unconstitutional upon the country’s reversion to the multiparty system.

The court upheld his petition and nullified the Local Councils and ordered fresh elections under the multiparty system.

However, due to financial constraints, the government has never held the elections although the Local Councils continued operating illegally to-date. Uganda has 7431 parishes and 57, 842 villages in 1403 sub-counties.

Mr Baryomusi said at yesterday’s workshop that the election of LC officials will be voted by lining up behind the candidates as opposed to the secret ballot system. He said the government preferred the procedure of lining up behind candidates to reduce on the high costs of the secret ballot system.

He explained that government realised that it would be too expensive using secret ballot voting, compared to lining up.

Voting by lining up behind the candidates for Local Council I and II was adopted in 2014 after Parliament overwhelmingly endorsed it during the debating and passing of the Local Government Amendment Bill 2014.

Baryomunsi stated that cabinet and the Electoral Commission (EC) have already pronounced elections will be held in January although they have not yet communicated the date.

However, the EC spokesperson Mr Jotham Taremwa said although a figure of Shs 37 billion has been suggested, they have held several meetings with Parliament and the relevant ministries over the same matter but failed to agree a common position.

“Government wants this money revised down wards which requires several amendments in the law governing these elections and in the event that the amendments have not been, funds have not been sought and there is no programme for the elections at EC, then we need to be advised well,” said Mr Taremwa.

 

MENGO SHOULD STOP HIDING BEHIND THE NRM UGANDA CONSTITUTION THAT HAS AN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT OF GOVERNANCE WITH THE COUNTRY OF BUGANDA:

Sunday, May 8, 2016

The dilapidated Palace of the King of Buganda abondoned by the residents since May 1966

 

BY SPAN

 

Most Baganda are fed up with Mengo's reluctance to speak out against the #Museven's regime brutality against its people. A larger number of people killed and critically injured are within Buganda but Mengo is busy looking for a Tofali instead of standing up to M7 and rebuke the way the government treats its citizens.

Since the Masiro were burnt down, Mengo has not put pressure on the central government to explain why the investigation has yielded nothing so far as well as Buddo inferno, but the Katikiro is busy telling us that we should forget and accept M7 as the elected president. 

Baganda and others living within the Buganda boundaries have paid a heavy price for the last thirty years. What Mengo Has Done For You Lately? We will put pressure on Mengo to get out of bed with dictator Museven.

This regime has made Baganda to be baggers and refugees within Buganda but Mengo is dancing with the wolves. The King from Rwenzori area, got fed up and stood up to Museveni for his people but Mengo is busy asking us "Can we all get along?". Time has come for Mengo to stand up for our people.

The way Mengo came to us asking us to help donate a Tofali, it is our turn to say to Mengo that we need your help. We are dying.  Mengo stand up and be counted.

 

Posted by Nathan Span
www.faddu.org

 

President Museveni with a long time incumbency is adivised to stop campaigning:

Written by SULAIMANI MUGULA

Mr S. Mugula

Despite having been in the job for many years, General Yoweri Museveni is campaigning with the same gusto as other presidential aspirants.

It is his right to campaign, but when one considers its effect on the economy, Ugandans and the office of the president, Museveni’s  campaign is not worth continuing, and should urgently stop.

So far, from the NRM manifesto, to what Museveni has promised on rallies and through the media, it is clear that most of his promises are the same as those he has made since 1986. In eastern Uganda, again he promised the Tirinyi-Pallisa-Kumi road, Tirinyi-Kamonkoli road and Ngora-Serere road.

These roads were promised to the people here 15 years ago. He has made similar promises in Busoga, Luweero, and everywhere. Apart from the stale promises, Museveni has demonstrated that he has little understanding of the needs of Ugandans. For example, to any serious leader, the Kabale-Kisoro road should have been a priority in the 1980s.

This road is not only a gateway to Rwanda and DRC, it is also used by tourists to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park. Tarmacking of this 70-kilometre stretch was only completed a few years ago, and was a shoddy job that involved cases of financial loss. Secondly, in order to ease connection from Kisoro to Kasese/FortPortal,  there is a need for a bridge at Butogota.

Instead of prioritising the improvement of roads and bridges here, Museveni upgraded the Kisoro airstrip for reasons only known to him. One wonders how many people here use and can afford air transport.  Museveni has been boasting about his achievements in infrastructure, yet little has been done.

For example, statistics show 2,000km of tarmac have been built from 1986 to 2015, yet leaders such as Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia built around 75,000km of tarmac from 1991 to 2012. Moreover, good highways, not the narrow, poorly-surfaced ones built in Uganda!

Surely, facilitation aside, it is an abuse to the people to make them travel long distances just to be given the same old stories/ idioms and promises. The other concern is the effect of Museveni’s campaign on the economy.

From past experience, Museveni is known to conduct lavish and expensive campaigns whose source of funding has never been revealed. This sudden pumping of huge amounts of cash into the economy has always led to biting inflation. Museveni  has already poured a lot – from the ‘sole candidate project’ to date.

We should be worried if Museveni continues pouring more cash into the economy, helped by the NRM parliamentary candidates who allegedly receive funding from the party. By December 2015, the economy was already under immense pressure, due to the strong dollar, increased interest rates and electricity tariffs. More pressure from Museveni/NRM cash will send the economy into a dangerous position.

There is also damage to the office of the president. In an attempt to rebrand, Museveni is making many distortions to the history of this country. For example, he has persistently claimed that NRM has been fighting for Ugandans since the 1960s and that NRM liberated Uganda from Idi Amin. Surely, NRM was born in 2005, UPM/NRA in the 1980s. Who was Museveni with in the 1960s?

Politicians such as Ruhakana Rugunda, Kahinda Otafiire, Sam Kutesa and Museveni himself belonged to either DP or UPC during that time. Amin was defeated by the Tanzanian army and resources. And Uganda paid them back. Others like Kikoosi Maalum, the Tito Okellos and Fronasa helped; but Fronasa was not the only one and was not the strongest.

Museveni’s exaggerated peace and security also lacks truth. The insurgency in northern Uganda lasted 20 of his 30 years in power. That makes it 67 per cent wartime.

This scale of physical and psychological devastation cannot turn into happiness so soon. Moreover, northern Uganda never created war; it is the predatory tactics of Museveni/NRA that led to and sustained the insurgency. Actually, it is out of ignorance and desperation, as personified by Jimmy Akena, that some people from this area pretend to support Museveni.

The success as regards electricity is distorted too. Statistics show that electricity access in Uganda is below 20 per cent. For someone who has ruled for 30 years, that is an indictment, not a source of pride.

Lastly, given that all the money in Uganda belongs to Museveni; the army belongs to him; the oil belongs to him; he hunted his animal; he cannot leave power because of a mere piece of paper; it is very clear Museveni will force or buy his way to the presidency.

Why campaign then?

The author is a Ugandan living in South Africa.

To the army and police, the prospect of post-election violence looms large next year and the two agencies are mobilizing billions of shillings and thousands of men and women in readiness for any flare-ups, The Observer has learnt.

According to government officials, incidents of violence in the NRM primaries and Col Kizza Besigye’s ‘defiance’ campaign point to a likelihood of violence after the declaration of results.

The case for planning for a worst-case scenario was made last week by ministers Rose Akol (Internal Affairs), James Baba (state for internal affairs) and General Jeje Odongo (state for defence).

The ministers appeared before parliament’s committee on defence and Internal Affairs on Friday to defend their budgets for the 2016/17 fiscal year. Defending the police’s Shs 527.7bn budget, Akol and Baba told MPs that the force would need an extra Shs 51.1bn to police the aftermath of the 2016 general elections.

The ministers also requested another Shs 37.4bn for training crime preventers. These requests, however, astonished the MPs who demanded justification from the ministers. The ministers’ answers revealed that while government and activists are preaching peace and restraint for the elections, they are preparing for eventualities of violence.

“The experience is that after elections, there is always a spate of violence which normally takes a big chunk of the police budget to contain,” Akol said.

“During that time, every police officer gets out of the barracks and goes to the field to ensure law and order.”

Asked to break down the cash request, Akol said the additional budget of Shs 51.1bn covered “feeding, consumables, fuel, maintenance of vehicles and equipment, training and intelligence gathering.

Minister Baba said the under-fire crime preventers are part of a “new policing strategy.” Their special budget would partly facilitate their training and refreshments during and after elections.

DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN

Speaking to The Observer later, Baba and Odongo painted a clearer picture of the security agencies’ fears for 2016.

“There have been more than 400 rallies by presidential candidates and they have been generally peaceful and smooth apart from Ntungamo where the chaos erupted,” Minister Baba said. “Two, we saw a bit of chaos during the NRM primaries and we just hope that this chaos won’t manifest itself in the main elections.”

“So, as a responsible government, we have to prepare for these contingencies because we don’t want to be caught napping [when the situation worsens],” he added.

Citing Besigye’s ongoing ‘defiance’ campaign, Baba said they were not sure what would happen if Besigye, the FDC presidential candidate, lost to Museveni for a fourth time.

“There is a candidate [Besigye] who is campaigning on defiance saying that he will not abandon defiance even after several warnings.”
“So, we have to prepare for that [defiance] but we continue with our peaceful and well-organized campaigns...having it in our minds that we have a responsibility to protect our country as a government,” he said.

Asked why police was going ahead to recruit crime preventers yet MPs insist there is no “legal framework to guide their operations,” Baba said police alone, with about 46,000 officers by election time, cannot adequately man the 23,000 polling stations across the country. On average every polling station should be manned by two police officers.

“So, when you think of what will happen to police stations and communities [during elections], it explains why we need crime preventers for preventing crime and protecting the population,” the minister said.

MPs led by Muwanga Kivumbi (shadow minister for internal affairs) insisted that “crime preventers” had no legal backing to get involved in elections.

The committee will today meet with the sector ministers, Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura and the head of police intelligence. The meeting will discuss the possibility of involving the army instead of crime preventers.

DEFENCE 

Odongo, the minister of state for defence, told The Observer in a separate interview that the army could not wait for the situation to spiral out of control like it did in Kenya after the 2007 elections.

“We [the army] are very alert. We have an obligation to protect lives and properties,” he said. “We [army] just can’t accept to be blamed after a bad situation happens here like what happened in Kenya.”

When MPs asked him to shed more light on government’s fears in relation to post-election violence, Odongo said: “...shall we wait until the situation deteriorates?…I will respond to this by indicating to the committee that right now modernity enables us to study the situation and determine actions that we require at whatever time.

“There are two administrative institutions that are operational. One is the joint intelligence committee, which gets all security agencies together to monitor the situation and feeds into the next institution [which is] the joint operation centre which plans…and they have weekly meetings to review and be able to say that we shall respond at point A.”

CRIME PREVENTERS

Interviewed separately for this story on Saturday, Mike Ssebalu, the spokesman for the Museveni election taskforce, said security agencies needed to be alert to threats of violence.

He said there are indicators that some candidates particularly Besigye are “geared” towards inciting “violence.”

“I believe that it [alertness] is perfectly in order because security and stability of Uganda is paramount,” Ssebalu said. “No individual interest should override the stability of the country.”

Ssebalu claimed that Besigye’s ‘defiance’ campaign signaled a possibility of violence after the elections. However, FDC spokesman Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda said there was no justification for heightened security if the ruling NRM did not plan to steal the election.

“They [security agencies] shouldn’t panic if they don’t have plans to rig elections,” Ssemujju said. “If elections are not rigged, there will be no defiance and if they rig elections, they should prepare for defiance and no amount of money would deter violence.”

Ironically, Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, a human rights lawyer and political analyst, said government agents were the more likely source of violence.

“That is why you see many crime preventers who will cause violence,” Rwakafuuzi said. “This election is a do-or-die matter for the government. So, if they win, violence might not be there, but if they lose it, crime preventers will cause chaos such that the army intervenes.”
 
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