By Our Reporters
Senior lawyer and leading UPC ideologue Peter Walubiri has advised President Museveni to volunteer whatever evidence he has against the Electoral Commission to Police and other investigating agencies so that, in case they committed electoral offences, the EC officials can be prosecuted. “He is the President and if he is indeed serious about what he is accusing the EC, let him give it to police. I believe he doesn’t have any and is just politicking and even if that is the case, if he suspects them of electoral offences, they aren’t above the law. They can be prosecuted for election offences. There is a lot he can do rather than just crying at public functions like us ordinary people. Police is at his disposal and other agencies. He can direct them to do comprehensive investigations and write for him a report which can be based on to have them prosecuted,” Walubiri, a leading pundit on Constitutional matters, told this news website. The UPC-leaning lawyer, who until a few years ago was also a law lecturer at Makerere, says the President is just having difficulties accepting that his well-facilitated candidate [Nusura Tiperu] who had everything going for her, “including the partisan security forces and a timid media,” could be defeated by a man [Kassiano Wadri] in prison. “He must be feeling that the EC was the missing cog in the will and the message is both for EC and the courts of law where some of these election disputes may have to be decided. He wants the EC to play ball in the upcoming by-elections,” he says. “He must be missing Dr. Kiggundu at the EC. [Current EC chairman] Byabakama being the lawyer at the DPP and the Judge that I knew couldn’t just be tossed around. In Arua you had a group from the President’s party led by Deputy Secretary General Richard Todwong. When Todwong was accused of illegal interference in the election exercise, Byabakama and other EC officials put their foot on the ground and literally chased him away from Arua. This must have made Mr. Museveni to feel betrayed by the EC and that is why he is angry.”
ADVISES BYABAKAMA;
Walubiri, who was a few years behind Byabakama at the University advises the EC Chairman, whom he describes as a fantastic lawyer, to stand firm because he has a name to protect. “His track record as a lawyer at the DPP and later High Court Judge and Court of Appeal he is very outstanding and I would be surprised if he allows his name to be soiled in his remaining few years of public service. He has a good profile which he shouldn’t lose at the EC because he has politically been intimidated. He is fairly an upright official with a name to protect. Let him be assured that the public is behind him and he must preserve his integrity. Gratefully the law is on his side and there is very little Museveni can do to him. Yes he has the means but is very unlikely to harm him. Neither can he be easily fired. He has his 7 years and the best Museveni can do is to wait and not reappoint him for 2nd term. To get him out legally, you have to prove serious misconduct for which there isn’t any serious evidence so far. He has always held those previous positions on merit and I’m sure it’s those qualities that pushed Museveni to appoint him EC Chairman.” Walubiri said there is no reason for Byamukama to resign out of fear for the unknown. “He just have to do his job as mandated by the law. He shouldn’t throw in the towel because for sure nothing will happen to him however much Museveni may escalate his attacks on the EC. He can’t arrest him because the public will defend him. The good thing he still has many years at the EC and by the time this term ends, the appointing authority may even have changed,” Walubiri concluded.
CONTEXT;
The background to this is that on Sunday, while presiding over the handover ceremony for outgoing National Women Council leaders, Museveni unleashed anger against the EC, a body he said was full of “rotten people” whom he vowed to sort out. In reference to Arua and other Municipality elections, which his mass NRM party has lately lost, Museveni accused EC officials of participating in ferrying ghost voters in elections like Jinja where FDC’s Paul Mwiru was declared winner ahead of his NRM candidate Igeme Nabeta. The NRM camp is actually already in court challenging Mwiru’s victory. The big man said being the ruling party, NRM has a lot of powers which he was prepared to use to tame corruption in the EC. At the same Sunday event, 128 newly elected district women council chairpersons were also inaugurated and the president economically empowered each of them with a donation of three cows so that they can serve as models of economic transformation.
