The Democratic Party has implored President Museveni to declare the state of emergency if it’s true that the pandemic has hit the nation so badly.
Speaking to the media at the party’s headquarters in Kampala, the president of the Democratic Party, Mr. Norbert Mao said that the government has started using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to cling to power.
He explained that if it is true that Covid 19 is affecting the country at a high speed then, state of emergency should be declared and elections be suspended.
Mao added that there’s no reason why the country is pushed into scientific elections yet there’s a very big threat of the pandemic. “Some of the places don’t have the media facilities that make a digital campaign. In some places they will not even know that voting is going on. If the COVID 19 pandemic is this serious, then postponing the election is a viable option because we are the one who make the laws, and we are the one who change the laws. How come they are so enthusiastic to change term limits and age limits but when it comes to facilitating voters to make informed choices now they are reluctant,”
On Sunday, the minister of health Dr Jane Ruth Acheng warned that the country is nearing a fourth stage of the pandemic which includes massive coronavirus transmissions into the community if the public doesn’t adhere to the health set guidelines to stem the spread of the pandemic.
Several Opposition candidates have asked the Government of Uganda to rather suspend elections than conducting scientific elections that seem to aim cement the leadership of Mr. Yoweri Museveni for another five years. They argue that Uganda cannot conduct a free and fair election that follows the “scientific rules and guidelines” that have been laid out by the Electoral Commission.