'Political parties not a solution to problems'

Independent presidential candidate Fred Mwesigye has defended his candidature, saying his spiritual message is the only solution to the country's problems.

He said he is not a mole for the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) as some people think.

He said if he was a mole, he would have had all the resources at his disposal to traverse the country, but he is ‘still held up' in Kampala.

Speaking to New Vision during an interview, Mwesigye said although his nomination speech sounded apolitical, he believes that political parties are not a solution to Uganda's problems.

The 39-year-old pastor and a father of five believe that the only way for this nation to stabilise and grow is through God.

"Uganda needs leaders who not only speak about God, but their characters show and reflect that they fear God; it will help solve the country's problems, such as corruption," he noted.

He noted that Uganda has good policies on corruption and enough institutions charged with fighting against the vice, but there are some obstructions from some people in government.

Explaining the delay to launch his manifesto, Mwesigye said: "To me, the most important thing is not to launch the manifesto, but for the message to reach Ugandans. It is about the message reaching people through the media, not to see me because they vote basing on the message and the ideology."

He added that their first phase of the campaign will be through the media, which has wider coverage than launching a manifesto to only 200 people.

He said they will launch a campaign song that summarises the manifesto and will be aired on both radio and TVs.

Nicholas Kasozi, the campaign manager, said given the changes from the health ministry, relaxing the lockdown measures from 70 to 200 people at a public rally, they are adjusting their programme which they had initially thought would be a media-based campaign.

According to his programme, Mwesigye launched his media campaign in Kampala on November 9 and is expected to be hosted on various Kampala-based radio and TV stations, until November 21.

These two weeks will keep Mwesigye in Kampala when other 10 presidential candidates are combing upcountry towns for votes. "We want to first take advantage of the media in Kampala before we move upcountry," Kasozi explained.

According to his five-point manifesto, Mwesigye intends to reduce government expenditure, fight corruption, root for good governance and ethics-based administration.