UPC president Otunnu releases programme for party primaries

Jul 21, 2015

The Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) president Olara Otunnu has released a programme for conducting party primaries at all levels

By Paul Kiwuwa & Moses Mulondo

The Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) president Olara Otunnu has released a programme for conducting party primaries at all levels.


According to the programme released Monday, nomination forms will have to be applied for between July 24 and August 6, 2015.

Preparations for nominations, campaigns and election of the party presidential candidate will take place from July 30, to August 30, 2015.

The party secretary for mobilization Isa Otto urged party members to pick nomination forms from 9th floor of Uganda House.

On whether a similar programme for party primaries from Akena’s camp would not confuse party members, Otto said, “We don’t have camps in UPC. UPC has one leadership under Olara Otunnu.”

Otunnu said the party cabinet had met and approved all the recommendations made by the Independent Commission of Inquiry whose report declared as null and void the district elections.

The commission headed by Prof. Patrick Rubaihayo released its report last week on Thursday, pointing out various irregularities that characterized the elections.

“We accepted the commission’s recommendation to nullify the results and calling for the presentation of all the nine presidential aspirants to the Delegates Conference but we shall seek a legal interpretation because the party constitution says a candidate should have won one third of the districts,” Otunnu explained.

Otunnu said the commission was unable to establish the outcome of the district conferences because Jimmy Akena’s group had tampered with the records after it had forcefully taken over the party headquarters on the 6th floor of Uganda House.

Asked why the commission could not collect results from district organs to get the actual outcome, Otunnu said, “District conferences were widely manipulated and interfered with. That is why the EC chairman never declared the results. Akena declared himself the winner.”

When the commission was constituted, Akena’s camp rejected it and went head to convene a delegates’ conference at UMA Hall at Lugogo on July 1, 2015 which approved Akena is the party president.

Since then, Akena’s camp has taken over UPC headquarters at Uganda House and Otunnu now operates from outside with his press conferences always taking place at Speke Hotel. 

Reacting to the commission’s report, Akena said, “They absolutely have no authority to annul or even scrutinize the process through which I was elected. They are strangers to the process and strangers to the party constitution. The district conference is a party organ enshrined in the party constitution.”

About the way forward, Akena said, “The members of UPC have clearly spoken. Rubaihayo and Otunnu should not try to undermine the expressed will of the members of UPC. For us we are already moving forward implementing various activities as the new leadership of the party.”
 

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