All parliamentary committee chairpersons are currently in a closed-door meeting chaired by the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Chairperson, Jacob Oboth Oboth.
The meeting aims at forging a way forward following the revised electoral roadmap that will see the2021 General Election organized ‘scientifically’.
A report is expected on the Floor of Parliament this afternoon.
Earlier, the National Residence Movement (NRM) Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa convened a meeting of a selected few NRM MPs ahead of an anticipated heated debate of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee report on the Political Party Regulations and revised election roadmap.
Last week, government’s proposed regulations to govern political parties’ internal elections during Covid-19 period. According to the road map the electoral commission proposed that the 2021 campaigns should be conducted through the media.
Political Parties under regulation (2) will be mandated to conduct virtual meetings, generate resolutions through signing of papers and to use unauthorized organs of parties to handpick flag bearers.
Since then Mr Oboth has been meeting with various stakeholders in the electoral process to generate their views about the revised road map. Most of the stakeholder has been calling for postponing of the elections till after the Covid-19 is manned down.
According to the minister of justice and constitution affairs, Ephraim Kamuntu said postponing election is not an option rather be organised under strict guidelines.
According to party spokesperson of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Ssemujju Nganda holding a normal election on the dates stipulated in the Constitution (January-February 2020) as announced by the Electoral Commission is a big risk.
“If as a country we choose to do so, these elections must be transparent as commanded by the Constitution. The Constitution provides for only normal elections where candidates freely interact with the electorate. Any attempt to modify these elections will be unlawful.”
