By Frank Kamuntu
HE Yoweri Kaguta Museveni dubbed NRM chairman, has congratulated Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) candidate Dr Eunice Apio, for winning the Oyam by-elections.
In his statement on this election, Museveni says if the candidate for NRM feels he was cheated in this election, he should proceed to Court.
”Congratulations to our allies, the UPC and for the candidate, Eunice Apio, for winning the Oyam by-elections. Congratulations also to the NRM and the candidate Engola Junior because the difference between the two was very small,” says Museveni before he adds;
”If UPC cheated in any way, the NRM can follow the legal channels. I condemn and demand action against the law-breakers that are said to have ticked the ballots on behalf of the voters. This is treason and no NRM should ever take part in that crime.”
Museveni in the same statement blames his party officials for being incompetent and unable to ”catch opposition thieves” a reason why NRM has been losing most elections around Kampala City.
”It is the Opposition that has been doing that [rigging votes] around Kampala, with the incompetent NRM officials failing to catch them. If the voters cannot do so genuinely and influence the choice of the candidates and Parties, then how can the People guarantee their future and discipline leaders? This is why the NRM went to the bush. Vote rigging, bribery, violence, lies, etc., must be banished from our elections,” inks Museveni.
To curb the vice of vote rigging, Museveni says that that all voting must be electronic, using the thumb prints. ”How, then, does the pre-ticking come in? Are some People still allowing non-electronic voting?”
The General says UPC has been, in recent years, positive and not disruptive and so has DP been and that’s why he feels happy when they win.
”UPC has been, in recent years, positive and not disruptive and so has DP been. That is why I congratulate them, although I would have preferred the NRM to win. Nevertheless, both the UPC and the DP should pay attention to what I said at Icheme recently,” says Museveni adding;
”The sabotage of the UNC by the DP in 1954 and the sabotage of the UNLF in 1980 by both the UPC and the DP, denied Uganda a broad-based political force that could guarantee peace in Uganda, the way Tanu and Afro-Shirazi did in Tanzania. The two of them, again, since 1994 (the CA time), have been trying to sabotage the broad-based NRM but the People of Uganda have rejected their efforts.”
Meanwhile, Museveni cautions that NRM in Oyam and the rest of the Country should concentrate on wealth and get away from the sterile and nonsensical politics of cheap popularity -giving money, attending burials, etc.
