Museveni Summons CEC Over Election Roadmap

BY AWORI ESTHER LUCY

KAMPALA, Uganda|SHIFTMEDIA| The top ruling organ of the National Resistance Movement are set to meet again to discuss the 2021 election roadmap, this newsite has established.

Rtd. Gen Yoweri Museveni, who is also the chairperson of the ruling NRM has again summoned the party’s central executive committee (CEC) over elections roadmap.

A July 8 notice that has circulated among top CEC members reads: “Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the National Resistance Movement Organisation will be held on Sunday, July 12, 2020, at State House, Entebbe beginning at 11:00 a.m.”

According to the notice, the agenda has only three items which include prayer, communication from the chairperson, and consideration of the NRM electoral roadmap.

The party deferred discussions on electoral roadmap last week pending a presentation to Parliament by the justice minister.

Among the proposals by the Government for party elections is the one of using electoral colleges to select party candidates for different elective positions as well as holding virtual meetings instead of delegates’ conferences.

Sections of the opposition have already expressed dissatisfaction with the proposals, with some asking the President to declare a state of emergency and postpone the elections.

Several political parties have passed their election roadmaps and invited candidates to express interest to contest for different offices come 2021.

The Electoral Commission (EC) last month rolled out the 2021 polls roadmap, setting dates for nominations and elections.

In the roadmap, the EC said due to COVID-19, campaigns which involve masses were likely not to take place while voting would be held under social distance and other guidelines set by the health ministry.

But Political players and commentators have described as impractical, illegal, biased and in bad faith, the pronouncement by the Electoral Commission to ban open-air campaigns in the run-up to the 2021 general elections.

Electoral Commission Chairman Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama announced that in order to comply with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health to limit the spread of Coronavirus Disease COVID-19, the only campaign mode that will be allowed is using the media for all the candidates seeking elective positions.

This, the political players say can only benefit the incumbent party; the National Resistance Movement whose members or those affiliated to them own the majority media outlets in Uganda especially radio.

They argue that the law obliges the Electoral Commission to organize a normal election, and if it can’t, like in the present circumstance, it should throw back the matter to parliament to amend the existing laws to either provide for an election in such circumstances or postpone it to such a date that it is possible to hold it normally.

Asuman Basalirwa, the President of Justice Forum and the chairman of the Interparty Organization for Dialogue, an entity that brings together all parties with a representative in parliament said the constitution under Article 103(d) allows for a postponement of an election.

The specific clause provides that, “An election necessitated by the fact that a normal presidential election could not be held as a result of the existence of a state of war or a state of emergency, in which case, the election shall be held within such period as Parliament may, by law, prescribe.”

“The framers of the Constitution envisaged a scenario where for one reason or another, a normal election won’t be held. So, even a Covid situation was envisaged under the Constitution,” Basalirwa said.

But the NRM says that nothing that the government does, can please the opposition. Rogers Mulindwa, the spokesperson of the NRM secretariat says that as a party, they welcome the Electoral Commission roadmap and unlike the opposition, they will not whine about it but try to work within it.

Mulindwa also denies that as a party they were consulted before the Electoral Commission released a revised roadmap.