KAMPALA – The Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party has said that in its current form, the Electoral Commission (EC) cannot deliver a free and credible election prescribed in the Constitution.
FDC party spokesman Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda said the processes leading to compilation and display of the voters’ register have remain unresolved.
“The Electoral Commission headed by Justice Simon Byabakama has displayed signs of bias publicly in favour of Museveni who handpicked them. The Electoral Commission stopped registering voters in December last year more than a year to the next general elections. And in their new register, they have omitted Ugandans who have kept registering with National Identification and Registration of Persons Authority (NIRA),” Mr Nganda told journalists at the FDC offices in Najjanankumbi, Kampala, on Monday, February 24, 2020.
“There are citizens who registered with NIRA but are missing on the voters register yet the credibility of any election depends for a big part of the credibility of the register,” he added.
Mr Nganda said the laws relating to elections are not yet passed, yet the first batch of elections in due in less than two months.
“In many parts of the country, election-related activities meant to be managed by Electoral Commission, biased as it, have been abandoned to Residential District Commissioners (RDC) and Internal Security Organization (ISO),” he said.
Mr Nganda demanded that EC must disclose names and background of all officials appointed so far to man elections.
“The EC must stop Museveni and security from interfering with the activities of his competitors. Our mobilization has a party has and is being interfered with by Police and UPDF. They are also disrupting activities of other political platforms such as People Power. The Electoral Commission has a duty to stop Police, UPDF and Museveni from disrupting election-related activities,” he added.
At the same press conference, FDC congratulated South Sudan upon the formation and swearing-in of a unity government.
“This is what should have happened at the beginning. We hope the peace deal signed by the warring factions is this time real and will stick. We urge the region to play a constructive role and not to seek to patronize the new government as it has happened before,” Mr Nganda said.
