The first-ever live telecast of a presidential debate under the multi-party dispensation will be held at the Serena Hotel on January 15, 2016.
The disclosure was made today while announcing the TV debate that is jointly organised by the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, the Media Council of Uganda and Civil Society with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The Elders Forum of Uganda (TEFU).
The function was attended by among others the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda His Grace Stanley Ntagali; TEFU chairperson retired Justice James Ogoola, the Overseer of the Born Again Faith (BAF) Pastor Joseph Sserwada and Joshua Kitakule, the Secretary General of the Inter-Religious Council.
According to the organisers, the two-hour presidential debate to be held under the theme, ‘Working Together for Peace and Violence Free 2016 General Elections’, will feature all the eight candidates that were cleared by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to contest for the presidency in 2016.
‘The main goal the debate is to provide an impartial space for all the eight candidates to sell their agenda to Ugandans and commit to a peaceful free and fair election,’ a December 23 release by the organisers state, adding that a team of professional will moderate the debate.
Writing about the expectations of the debate Justice James Ogoola, the Chairperson of TEFU, noted: ‘the debate will take place at a neutral venue, over the course of two or so hours. We plan for high quality television production, moderated by a high caliber team of highly qualified media professional. The aim is to match the quality of the presentation to the quality of the event and the candidates involved.’
The candidates expected to feature on the debate include Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM); Dr Warren Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC); John Patrick Amama Mbabazi of the Go Forward team; Dr Abed Bwanika of the Peoples Development Party (PDP); Maj Gen (rtd) Benon Buta Biraro of the Farmers Party of Uganda (FPU) and Independent candidates Prof Venansius Baryamureeba, Faith Maureen Kyalya Walube and Joseph Mabirizi.
‘The candidates will get to discuss a range of national, regional and global issues and give the viewers the opportunity to make an informed decision on the polling day’ the release adds.
Under the NRM Uganda adopted the multi-party dispensation in 2005 and since then the country has held two presidential elections, in 2006 and 2011.
