KAMPALA – The Electoral Commission has declined to release President Yoweri Museveni’s academic documents as requested for by City lawyer Muwada Nkunyingi.
In the recent past, there has been increased calls from a section of Ugandans to have President Museveni’s academic documents made public. A month ago, Nkunyingi petitioned the Electoral Commission (EC) seeking to be furnished with the same.
Nkunyingi’s petition came just days after the EC released academic documents of National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
He said President Museveni was never vetted when he claimed power in 1986 and he is doubtful if the EC has ever vetted his academic documents.
In a statement dated September,3,2020, EC Acting Secretary Leonard Mulekwah revealed that Museveni’s documents did not require verification in the 2016 general elections.
“Kindly note and be informed that the academic documents for candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as presented in 2016 didn’t require verification since they are governed under section 4 (15) of the Presidential Act, 2005.” Reads part of the statement.
He further noted that Museveni was also legally nominated as a candidate in the same elections.
That particular issue was conclusively canvassed in Presidential election petition No 01 of 2018 (Amama Mbabazi Vs Museveni, EC and Ors).
“Basing on our findings…we find that the 2nd respondent nominated the 1st respondent as a presidential candidate in accordance with provisions of the PEA… Accordingly,we find that there was no failure on the part of the 2nd respondent to comply with,” reads an excerpt.
Commenting on the commission’s statement, Bobiwine took to social media and said the Electoral Commission which took a few days to release his academic documents is now “speaking in tongues” when it comes to Museveni’s documents.
“The emperor is naked. The partiality of an Electoral Commission which claims to be independent yet again lies bare for all to see. A few weeks back, someone working on the regime’s prompting applied to have my academic documents released. In only 3 days, the process to release my documents was already underway,” he tweeted.
He added that, “The same Electoral Commission has taken a month to respond to a request for Gen. Museveni’s academic documents. When they finally responded, they are speaking in tongues. The law does not empower any government body to determine the legality of the reasons given for demand of public documents. The Electoral Commission in a very clear indication of bias has taken it upon themselves not to release Gen. Museveni’s papers giving flimsy reasons. Even a child can see that they are embarrassed or scared of releasing the documents.”
