The National Unity Platform (NUP) Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine has lashed out at the Electoral Commission for restricting his supporters from staying at the polling station after casting their ballots in January next year’s general elections.
Bobi Wine indicates that he does not trust the Electoral Commission’s ability and willingness to organizing credible election exercise, hence mobilizing his supporters to remain vigilant by keeping at the polling station to guard their votes from any rigging.
The Electoral Commission Chairperson Simon Mugenyi Byabakama, this week issued stern warning against candidates who intend to deploy authorized election agents at polling stations, saying that they will not be allowed.
He pointed out the possibility of the authorized agents creating unwanted chaos at the polling station, which will disrupt the election exercise and eventually compromise the credibility of the outcomes.
Byabakama noted that the law allows each candidate to deploy a maximum of two agents per polling station, advising the candidates to rely on them in addition to accredited independent election observers.
However, during his campaign rallies in Masaka city on Saturday, Kyagulanyi criticized Byabakama’s guidance, saying it was tenable to him and called upon his supporters to also defy it.
“The Electoral Commission has a bad history of failing to deliver credible results in the previous elections. There is glaring evidence that the Electoral Commission presided over vote rigging in the last election, how then, can we trust the same group with the responsibility of guarding our votes?. The votes must be counted in broad daylight and in full watch of everyone. The people must be there to witness everything that happens to ensure proper accountability,” he noted.
Kyagulanyi argued that besides the NUP which temporarily challenged the election results, the NRM candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, is also publicly accused NUP of rigging his votes; which according to is an indictment of incompetence by the Byabakama led Electoral Commission.
On the other hand, the NUP presidential candidate urged his supporters to establish alternative means of communication to keep their coordination teams in touch, in the event the communication and internet connections are interrupted or blocked on the polling day.
He referred to the possibility of using whistles or traditional alarms, building community networks among other means that can sustain linkage between the people to be able to provide timely response when required.
Kyagulanyi also challenged the people of Masaka to emulate the voters in other regions of the country where he has campaigned before, to accord him unmatched support required to end President Yoweri Museveni’s regime of nearly four decades.
He promised that once elected in power, he will ensure equal sharing of state resources, implement quality universal education up to the university, improved healthcare, revival of the railway transport network, modernizing and expanding the water transport system among others.
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, is the fourth out of the eight presidential candidates to canvas for support in Masaka. The others who have earlier campaigned in the area are Conservative Party’s Elton Joseph Mabirizi, Mubaraka Munyagwa Sserunga of the Common Man’s Party-CMP and Joseph Kasibante of the National Peasants Party.
