Court to rule on presidential candidates nomination

A PETITION was yesterday filed in the Constitutional Court for a declaration that a person standing for presidency does not need Movement endorsement, reports Juliet Nankinga. The petitioners say since the Movement system was legitimised by the referendum on political systems, anybody can stand on individual merit and the issue of endorsing a Movement candidate is unconstitutional. Onyango Odongo, a former director for information and mass mobilisation at the National Resistance Movement Secretariat, and Joseph Tumushabe, a lecturer at Makerere University, also sought an order that a candidate standing for a political office on sponsorship of political parties is unconstitutional. In his affidavit, Tumushabe challenged a statement issued by the chairman of the Movement, Yoweri Museveni, that anybody intending to stand on the Movement ticket must consult and obtain endorsement of the relevant Movement organs. The petitioners also claim the National Executive Committee and National Conference of the Movement have been summoned to meetings between November 23 to 27 to discuss matters of great national importance. They say this is, "Likely to include the endorsement of a single Movement candidate or to issue statements to the effect that the Movement has adopted one candidate for the forthcoming presidential election." This, they said, contravenes Article 103(1) of the Constitution and discourages Ugandans to have access to leadership and participate at all levels of their governance. The petitioners said Museveni's statement presupposes a multiplicity of political systems concurrently operating in Uganda in competition with one another, hence the need to ordain one candidate for the Movement political system, which is unconstitutional. Ends.