DP’s Scheme To Block The NRM-O Registration Is Living In Dreamland!

Oct 16, 2003

SIR— I write in reference to various stories in your paper on the subject of the Democratic Party working hard to block the registration of the National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRM-O).

SIR— I write in reference to various stories in your paper on the subject of the Democratic Party working hard to block the registration of the National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRM-O).
I would like to make preliminary comments on the matter as follows:
That Lt-Gen Yoweri Museveni never signed any of the required legal documents for the NRM-O’s registration.
Secondly, even if he, as a prohibited officer of the UPDF and Alhaji Moses Kigongo, had signed them, the penalties for such a breach cannot be imposed on the NRM-O because section 16 of the Political Parties and Organisations Act (PPOA)
stipulates thus:
“16(1) A member of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces, the Uganda Police Force, the Uganda Prisons Service or a public officer or traditional or cultural leader shall not,
(a) Be a founding or other member of a political party or organisation, or
(b) Hold office in a political party or organisation, or
c) Speak in public or publish anything involving matters of political party or organisation controversy engage in canvassing support of a political party or organisation or of a candidate standing for public
election sponsored by
a political party or organisation.
16 (2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) of this
section commits an offence
and is liable on conviction
to a fine not exceeding one hundred currency points (sh2m) or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both.
In addition, the NRM-O,
or any other party has
a minimum of 35 days
to correct any errors in case there is a genuine complaint filed with the Registrar General.
That is as far as the law can go for now, in which case stoppage of the registration of NRM-O
is a grand delusion by DP
and its lawyers.

Ofwono-Opondo
Member NRM-O
Interim Executive Committee

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});