President Yoweri Museveni has congratulated Uganda People’s Congress candidate (UPC) Dr. Eunice Apio Otuko for winning Oyam by-election having defeated NRM’s flag bearer Engola.
“Congratulations to our allies, the UPC and for the candidate, Eunice Apio, for winning the Oyam by-elections. Congratulations also to the NRM and the candidate Engola Junior because the difference between the two was very small,” Museveni applauded.
However, he said if UPC cheated in any way, the NRM can follow the legal channels. He further condemned and demanded action against the law-breakers that are said to have ticked the ballots on behalf of the voters. And referred to the action as treason and urged NRM never to ever take part in that crime.
“It is the Opposition that has been doing that around Kampala, with the incompetent NRM officials failing to catch them. If the voters cannot do so genuinely and influence the choice of the candidates and Parties, then how can the People guarantee their future and discipline leaders? This is why the NRM went to the bush. Vote rigging, bribery, violence, lies, etc., must be banished from our elections,” Museveni said.
He insisted that all voting must be electronic, using the thumb prints to avoid the pre-ticking of the ballots.
Museveni said that UPC has been, in recent years, positive and not disruptive and so has Democratic Party been. Adding, “That is why I congratulate them, although I would have preferred the NRM to win. Nevertheless, both the UPC and the DP should pay attention to what I said at Icheme recently.”
Museveni regretted the sabotage of the Uganda National Congress (UNC) by the DP in 1954 and the sabotage of the UNLF in 1980 by the UPC and the DP, which denied Uganda a broad-based political force that could guarantee peace in Uganda, the way Tanu and Afro-Shirazi did in Tanzania. The two of them, again, since 1994 (the CA time), have been trying to sabotage the broad-based NRM but the People of Uganda have rejected their efforts.
“Therefore, the surviving UPC and DP members -people like Rwakasisi, John Kawanga, and Joyce Ssebugwawo (KY) – should sensitize their members about the historical mistakes that disadvantaged Uganda,” Museveni urged.
