Museveni has said that Uganda’s 2021 election lies in the hands of scientists.
Long-serving Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has said he has no idea when the next elections will be held following the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed many lives across the world.
According to the 75-year-old head of state, the fate of the 2021 election lies in the hands of scientists who are fighting to contain COVID-19.
The electoral calendar has been affected.
In a report by the Daily Monitor, secretary general of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Justine Kasule Lumumba said the current coronavirus crisis in the country had affected the electoral calendar greatly.
Lumumba said:
We in NRM are political players. We cannot take a decision and say elections will be at this time without the advice of the scientists. All the presidential directives that have been given so far have been based on the advice of scientists. Equally when it comes to elections, it will depend on the numbers of COVID-19 patients as the tests go on and also most importantly the advice of scientist.
Lumumba spoke during Inter-party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) meeting where Justice Forum (Jeema) took over its leadership from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
Should the country go to elections?
However, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party leader Patrick Amuriat Oboi said the country should go into the elections and scientists had no role in determining the dates.
Amuriat said:
We should go in for these elections and I am sure that as FDC, we are going to win. Why should we postpone elections? There is no any law that permits the extension of elections. If the government wants to postpone elections, they should announce a state of emergency and conduct a referendum.
According to Amuriat, there are other diseases such as malaria that have never prevented an election from taking place.
Planning should be done earlier.
He suggested the Electoral Commission instead should start planning earlier and be given enough funds for it to conduct the elections by increasing the number of polling stations in bid to reduce instances of COVID-19 transmission.
Constitutionally the elections are expected to be held in February 2021.
President Museveni has been ruling the landlocked nation since 1986 and has been facing a lot of Opposition from MP Bobi Wine who has also shown interest in the country’s top leadership.
(H/T Tuko)