Presidential aspirants want curfew lifted in campaigns

Oct 30, 2020

This is one of the demands the 10 cleared aspirants and/or their agents made on Thursday while meeting EC on the final preparations for the nomination of presidential aspirants.

CURFEW|POLITICS|PRESIDENTIAL POLLS

KAMPALA - Opposition and independent Presidential aspirants have asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that an overnight curfew is suspended during their campaigns for the 2021 elections.

This is one of the demands the 10 cleared aspirants and/or their agents made on Thursday (October 29, 2020) while meeting EC on the final preparations for the nomination of presidential aspirants and other issues under the roadmap for 2020/2021 general elections.

The whole country remains under curfew which was imposed on March 31 by President Yoweri Museveni to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

At the end of August, Museveni instructed the Police to tighten enforcement of the curfew for commuter motorists, bodabodas, private and public transport, among others.

The curfew for bodabodas begins at 6:00 pm whereas that for private vehicles and public transport is 9:00 pm.

Information Minister, Judith Nabakooba said the President's new directive followed a spike in the COVID-19 cases and deaths.

As of October 28, Uganda had recorded 12,201 cases of coronavirus and 108 deaths.

However, addressing journalists at the EC headquarters shortly after meeting the 10 aspirants, the electoral body chairman Justice Simon Byabakama said the issue of lifting curfew is very pertinent.

"Because people will be traveling by road traversing the country and given the limited time many may have a tight campaign schedule which will require them to move at night from one location to another. We promised to work it out after the nominations of presidential candidates," he said.

The nominations are scheduled for November 2 and 3 at Kyambogo University, starting at 9:00 am and ending at 5:00 pm.

"We promised to invite the ministry of health, the Police and other law enforcement officers to a meeting that will discuss how the candidates will move without being faulted for breaking the curfew regulations," Byabakama said.

He, however, said: "As a commission, we are going to insist on the security agencies of the law enforcement that the candidates should not be inconvenienced because this is a very important national process and it has very limited timelines within which they have to execute it."

Twenty-three aspirants have so far returned nomination forms and supporter forms to the EC and 10 have been cleared for nominations by press time.

The 10 include incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of National Resistance Movement, Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine of National Unity Platform, Eng. Patrick Amuriat of Forum for Democratic Change, Maj Gen (rdt) Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation and former security minister Lt Gen (rtd) Henry Tumukunde (independent).

Others are independents Pastor Fred Mwesigye, Nancy Linda Kalembe, Joseph Kabuleta, John Katumba and Willy Mayambala.

By press time, the verification of lists of the rest of the 22 presidential hopefuls who submitted their forms was underway.

Some of these aspirants in some districts fell short of the required 100 signatures and had to go back, EC acting spokesperson Paul Bukenya said. 

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