The Electoral Commission has been on the hot seat with the public and the opposition since it announced the new electoral road map for the 2021 General elections. According to many people, the roadmap is a clear indicator that the EC works for the ruling party.
Justice Simon Byabakama the commission chairperson has rubbished reports that the commission is operating on the orders of president Museveni.
“While meeting him, President Museveni brings up the question of how we shall hold the election without undoing the government’s efforts to contain the pandemic. This was his main concern. A normal election is that which informs to article 1(4) of the constitution. The term free and fair election is not defined by the constitution or by any law,”he said during an interview on Thursday.
Byabakama explained that even before the lockdown,the commission was seeking an audience with the President but It was primarily on the issue of funds.
” Our budget for the general elections had a shortfall. UNRA gave us a deadline to move out of our premises because that place will be required for the Kampala flyover project. This was not included in the budget, and we had not been given a solution.Our only hope was the president. The opportunity to see him only opened up when the lockdown was slowly easing,”he noted.
Byabakama said that those who think they are operating under the wings of president Museveni, it is not true because they are following the law.”It makes me proud that I am the EC chairman at a time like this. It gives me tremendous courage to know that no Electoral Commission has held elections under such circumstances,”he added.
Since the commission launched the roadmap,it has been consulting stakeholders and comprehensive guidelines will be coming out by next week.
“We are going to meet with the Ministry of Health to factor in the people’s health concerns.I want to disabuse the narrative that we are working outside the law. We are very mindful of acting within the law. I have realized that some Ugandans are more prone to being lied to than being told the truth,”he said.
He explained that some of the political parties lack consensus-building mechanisms.
” If the Commission were to first consult these political parties and stakeholders, would we ever have consensus? If we were to consult right from the beginning, we would never move an inch,”he said.
Byabakama said whereas the road map of 2018 encompasses everything, this new roadmap commences with the activities that had not been executed because of the lockdown.
“When we were preparing the first roadmap, we did not consultant anyone because the law permits us to do so.However, this is not an entirely new roadmap. This road map was launched in December 2018. Because of the covid19 lockdown, we had to come up with a revised 2018 road map in context to the challenges caused,” he said.
