Donors meet Kadaga over 2021 electoral processes
The development partners raised concern that a big number of young Ugandans who were not yet 18 years in December 2019 but will have reached the voting age by the time the elections take place will be disenfranchised.
DIPLOMACY POLITICS 2021 ELECTIONS
KAMPALA - A delegation of development partners from European countries and the USA have met the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and a few legislators over a range of governance and democracy related concerns.
The delegation of the development partners which was headed by the Danish ambassador Petersen Nicolaj also included the Belgium ambassador Rudi Veestraeten, Germany ambassador Friedrich Matthias, Swedish ambassador Per Linggarde, the head of the Office of Austrian Development Cooperation Dr Roswitha, Norwegian ambassador Elin Ostebo, Charge d'affaires for the EU delegation Anne Merrifield, and Deputy Chief of Mission for the USA embassy Christopher Kraft.
The development partners raised concern that a big number of young Ugandans who were not yet 18 years in December 2019 but will have reached the voting age by the time the elections take place will be disenfranchised (not allowed to vote).
The ambassadors also raised concern about so much commercialization of politics and unfair enforcement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by security agencies which have been curtailing activities of opposition politicians.
The Belgian ambassador Rudi Veestraeten wondered why whereas international election observers have in the last three general elections made recommendations for electoral reforms but have not been implemented by the Uganda government.
Responding to their concerns, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga said, "I think within the country there are people who think the opposition must be stopped. Yet in 2005 as a country, we agreed to go into a multiparty democracy. Within my party, there are people who used to attack me that I allow the opposition to speak."
On the electoral reforms that have not been implemented, Kadaga's parliament wanted very much to enact the reforms but were frustrated by the executive which was supposed to initiate such reforms.
About young people who have been closed out of the 2021 elections, Kadaga said Parliament addressed it as a matter of national concern but the relevant government organs did not listen to them.