Postpone election, says Leader of Opposition

The Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Betty Aol Ocan, has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to consider postponing the 2021presidential elections due to brutality by the Police.

"If the Electoral Commission (EC) wants to control the population to follow the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), they should postpone the election because with campaigns, one cannot say people should not come. We candidates cannot chase people away, we can only encourage them to wear face masks," she said.

Aol, the Woman MP for Gulu district, who is contesting for the Gulu City Woman MP seat, made the remarks at Northern Uganda Media Club in Gulu on Friday However, President Yoweri  Museveni, while commenting  on the recent riots, assured the country that the elections  would go on as planned . The general elections are slated for January 14, 2021.

ARRESTS

Aol condemned the brutality of the security forces and the arrest of Opposition candidates. "It is not good that people who are supposed to vote for their leaders are put at high risk of getting COVID-19 in the name of election," said.

Aol blamed the Police and other security agencies for brutalising and arresting presidential candidates Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine and Patrick Oboi Amuriat. The duo were arrested for violating SOPs set by the EC and health ministry during campaign rallies.

"I condemn the arrest of Opposition candidates and killing of people on streets and also in areas where the Opposition is holding campaigns. "It seems the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, is using that as a trick to trap Opposition candidates not to be able to traverse the country within the short period given to campaign," she said.

Aol urged the Police and other security agencies not to use excessive force on people who are ‘empty-handed', saying the Police are there to protect citizens and their property.

She also noted that the Government should allow people to be free, such as Tanzania did, arguing that the control of COVID-19 by the health ministry had failed.  

She said instead of the government wasting money buying tear gas, it should think of using the money to buy medicine to supply in hospitals. "We pushed for electoral reform to put in place an independent Electoral Commission that would operate with a strong arm during elections, but this one is not independent. It takes orders from the ruling party," Aol said.

She appealed to the EC  to speak out about the brutality even if it does not have powers to do so. "If we want good governance, we cannot brutalise and intimidate the media," she said.

Aol also blamed NRM party members for defacing their posters on streets. She said Opposition candidates are struggling to print their posters so no candidates should remove them.