KAMPALA – The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has joined the growing list of opposition parties rejecting the 2021 virtual campaign roadmap for the 2021 election and vowed to go to court.
According to FDC, the pronouncement whose effect is to ban freedom of assembly enshrined in Article 29(d) of the Constitution, offends the main pillars and foundation upon which constitutional democracy was built on in Uganda.
“Objective II of our Constitution titled Democratic Principles states that, ‘The State shall be based on democratic principles which empower and encourage the active participation of all citizens at all levels in their own governance.’” Party spokesman Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda said on Monday.
Mr Nganda said the only election provided for in the Constitution is one in which citizens actively participate.
“Covid or no Covid, the standards remain the same. For an election to be an election under the Constitution, it must be free and fair in which citizens actively participate. These elections are not elections of Electoral Commission or candidates only. They are Uganda’s elections,” he said.
The party accused EC chairman Justice Simon Byamukama of handling elections as a private matter.
“His commission terminated registration of voters a year before election denying more than one million citizens an opportunity to determine who their next leaders should be. This decision was taken before Covid 19 outbreak. The voters’ register remains a contested issue.
Byamukama has now banned campaigns handing over the initiative to his boss, the incumbent ruling NRM sole candidate, seventy five year old Yoweri Museveni,” Mr Nganda said.
“We all know that the person who fears competition and fears assemblies is Yoweri Museveni. That is why he had through Police given himself the powers to grant permission to people intending to hold rallies which Constitutional Court nullified. In fact Museveni had blocked concerts and rallies even before Covid.
The FDC National Executive Committee and Parliamentary Caucus will this Friday June 26th discuss this matter further with a view of petitioning both court and citizens. We will announce our next course of action in our next briefing.”
