The Minister of Information and National Guidance Kabakumba Matsiko has said that government has addressed 95% of the concerns that the Supreme Court raised in relation to the way of conducting elections in Uganda.
Uganda Information and national Guidance Minister, Kabakumba Masiko
The Supreme Court in 2006 ruled in the case of Besigye vs the Electoral Commission that though the there various irregularities in the elections that rendered the elections not free and fair, the irregularities were not substantial enough to have necessitated a re-run of the elections. As a result it made recommendations that the government should implement so as to have free and fair elections in the future.
Matsiko says that the government considered these recommendations and has since acted on 95% of the recommendations.
She says some of the recommendations that the government made concern things like display of voters register in time and involvement of security operatives in elections have been acted on and the contradictions in the laws related to elections like the Presidential Elections Act, the Parliamentary Elections Act, the Local Government’s Act and the others have all been amended to remove the contradictions.
The Minister however has restated that the government will not change the current electoral commission since it is not one of the aspects that the Supreme Court recommended the government to act on.
“And for the record there was no mention in the Supreme Court ruling of the Electoral Commission being incompetent. Majority of factors raised in that ruling were external to the Electoral Commission, not to do with its composition and they have since been addressed.” Matsiko asserts.
The opposition Inter party Coalition is currently engaged in campaigns to have the current electoral commission led by Prof. Badru Kiggundu removed. They argue that the 2011 Uganda general elections will not be free and fair if the current electoral commission which presided over unfair elections in the past is not changed.
By Zakaria Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media