The National Alliance for Free and Fair Elections has pledged to petition the Parliament of Uganda by September calling for the disbanding of the current Electoral Commission headed by Prof. Badru Kiggundu.
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This follows demonstrations around the country orchestrated by NAFFE that were brutally stopped by police with some of the demonstrators being arrested.
Margaret Wokuri
While speaking to journalists, the Interim Coordinator of NAFFE, Margaret Wokuri has said in August NAFFE will begin collecting signatures and it hopes that by the second week of September it will
be through with soliciting for the signatures that it will use to petition Parliament to disband the EC.
Wokuri says once they are through with collecting these signatures, they will head straight to Parliament to petition Parliament on this matter.
Wokuri has says that NAFFE will not be intimidated by the Police actions and will continue holding more demonstrations against the EC despite the brutal nature in which the police tries to stop their demonstrations.
NAFFE is a pressure group formed a year ago to push for free and fair elections in Uganda. The group has been linked to the Forum for the Democratic Change and is also thought to be an invention of the
Inter Party Coalition though it denies any link with both FDC and IPC. However its Interim Coordinator Margaret Wokuri is a Party member of the Forum for Democratic Change.
The opposition in Uganda has been complaining that the reappointment of Eng. Badru Kiggundu as EC chairman, Tom Buruku, Jenny Okello, Stephen Ongaria and Christine Mugabi as commissioners, is inconsistent with Article 60(2) of the Constitution. The Article says: “Members of the commission shall be persons of high moral character, proven integrity and who possess considerable experience and demonstrated competence in the conduct of public affairs”.
The opposition argues that several court judgments and various reports of election observers have highlighted the incompetence, inability and failures of the Kiggundu led commission and therefore don’t trust the current EC can organize free and fair elections. Uganda is preparing for the 2011 General Elections to be held early next year.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has already nomination dates for Presidential Elections in October 25th and 26th 2010, nominations for parliamentary election on November 25th and 26th, while the candidates for the Local Councils at district and municipal level will be nominated on November 4th and 5th 2010.
By Tiberindwa Zakaria, Ultimate Media