By Mulengera Reporters
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has used its weekly news conference to demand the immediate exit of EC Chief Executive Officer Sam Rwakojo on grounds his tenure expired and he legally can’t continue to be in charge as the country matches towards 2021 elections.
Semujju said: “We continue to follow every development at the EC. The Secretary Sam Rwakojo is supposed to have left because his contract ended and it’s not renewed under the Electoral Commission Act.”
The FDC chief added they aren’t surprised the EC under the contract-seeking Rwakojo has continued to do things clearly aimed at pleasing the NRM to the exclusion of other political parties. He said the ongoing recruitment of 10,000 parish and sub county-based polling supervisors should ordinarily have been undertaken in close consultation with political parties and only after electoral and administrative reforms have comprehensively been enacted as directed by the Supreme Court.
Wondering why Justice Simon Byabakama, a whole Justice of Court of Appeal, would preside an EC that conducts itself as if preparing to organize NRM primaries in 2021, Semujju said: “The FDC would like to warn the EC Chairman not to involve himself in organizing another sham election. There will come a time in future when these individuals that are messing up the country will personally have to answer for their crimes no matter how long it will take.”
He wondered why such a senior judge would determinedly move on with 2021 elections-related activities as if he isn’t aware of what his seniors the Supreme Court justices decreed as part of their judgment in the Mbabazi/Museveni Presidential Petition of 2016.
Having failed to get Rwakojo pick his phone, Mulengera News rang EC Publicist Jotham Taremwa who said nothing could have been further from the truth. “As a matter of policy, we don’t discuss staff contracts with the media but since they have brought it up specifically, we must set the record straight. And the position is he [Rwakojo] has a running contract and I don’t why Hon Semujju has come up with that allegation. Whoever is feeding him with such allegations, he should never trust that source again,” he said.
POLITICAL PERSECUTION
The FDC publicist also decried endless political persecution targeting his party leaders and members giving the example of Party President Patrick Oboi Amuriat who, besides depositing Shs2m as bail, has continued to report to the Tororo Chief Magistrate’s court for participating in political mobilization activities about which the Uganda Police Force had been notified as required under the Public Order Management Act (POMA).
He also referenced on the similar persecution others like Dr. Kizza Besigye and Ingrid Turinawe have endured in places like Mbarara, Rukungiri and others while undertaking legitimate political mobilization activities.
He also referenced on Dr. Stella Nyanzi’s continued incarceration in Luzira over criminal charges for which the DPP has so far failed to parade adequate number of witnesses against her. “The FDC stands with Dr. Stella Nyanzi as it does with journalist Joseph Kabuleta,” he said adding the two continue to be persecuted in defense of a president who resents having his record subjected to any scrutiny.
He said the continued political persecution is proof: “We are now getting used to doing politics at gun point and in chains. It’s the reason the FDC management is sitting today [Monday] to finalize the party’s tour of Eastern Uganda. We will in a week’s time be in Bukedi, Bugisu, Teso and Karamoja.”
Semujju contrasted their intended Eastern Uganda tours with those by President Museveni who he accused of extravagantly blowing up Shs33.2bn (got through the May supplementary requests) on such tours in just three months. Semujju claimed they had proof in every district the big man has conducted his wealth creation tours in, each of the councilors has been receiving Shs300,000 as transport refund in return for their signature and endorsement for Museveni’s 2021 sole candidature in NRM.
The Kiira Municipality MP said Museveni was toiling in vain because everyone in Uganda is now convinced that his brother Gen Salim Saleh-coordinated OWC has already registered disastrous failures and failed to transform masses from poverty to riches just like was the case with its predecessor sloganeering programs like Entandiikwa, Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA), Prosperity for All and others. He concluded by saying Ugandans have known better than expecting much from such Presidential tours because political consolidation and regime longevity is all President Museveni works for these days. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
