Museveni defends army role in polls

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has defended the involvement of the army in elections except where soldiers campaign for rival candidates, reports Okello Jabweli and Joyce Namutebi.Speaking at a meeting on Monday with the parliamentary committee investigating election violence, Museveni said he saw no problem with army officers taking leave to contest for parliamentary or local council seats, or with armymen decampaigning groups that are linked with terrorism. He said the law empowers the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to deploy the army during elections in situations where the Police alone cannot cope. “I have strongly warned soldiers not to decampaign or take sides against individuals who are not linked to subversive groups. In such a situation taking sides is not necessary,” Museveni said. He, however, said he was ready to consider excluding the army from politicking if it is democratically resolved. He warned politicians against dragging the army into politics by their careless utterances.“In this last election, Besigye was the one who provoked the army when he claimed that 90% of the UPDF supports him,” Museveni said. He said the Police and the Electoral Commission should have reigned in Besigye “because the army supports the Constitution and not individuals.” Museveni denied claims that UPDF officers supervise their juniors to vote in a particular candidate, but said if it’s happening, it should stop. He also criticised the creation of impromptu polling stations towards polling day, saying all such stations should be gazetted. He was responding to a question by Hamlet Kabushenga (Kinkizi East) on the danger of leaving soldiers at liberty to take sides during elections. “The issue of personal interest in these elections cannot be ruled out. A soldier could go to speak for a brother,” Kabushenga said. Museveni exonerated his Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) against allegations of widespread harassment of Col. Kiiza Besigye’s supporters in Rukungiri. He said he only sent a section (12 soldiers) to Rukungiri to monitor the situation in the run-up to the elections. “There was tension building up. Besigye’s supporters were making wild threats, intimidating the people. There were even leaflets,” Museveni said. “Those soldiers were stationed at the district headquarters. The PPU was not even involved in the shooting incident. That incident came later involving the Military Police,” he said. Museveni said the decampaigning of the PPU was politically motivated. “The motive was to have the PPU leave so that they have an inefficient Police.” He said Capt. Ndahuura, who led the Rukungiri mission, is a good officer and he would like to see evidence to the contrary. In an apparent shift, Museveni said he is open to the idea of holding presidential, parliamentary and local council polls on the same day.