“The illegalities, malpractices, and irregularities, reported and proved to the unanimous satisfaction of this court dug too deep in the foundations and legitimacy of presidential elections of 2006 and leave no shadow of doubt that election was fatally flawed and a fresh one ought to be ordered and held.” This was now retired supreme judge George Kanyeihamba, Judgment of 2006 Kizza Besigye election petition, in which he petitioned the Uganda supreme court, challenging the re-election of president Yoweri Museveni.

It should be recalled that like all other elections, the 2006 elections were also characterized by massive electoral malpractices such as State engineered harassment and intimidation using security forces, vote rigging, multiple voting, ballot stuffing, bribery, and imprisonment of political activists. All Seven Judges of the Supreme court at the time unanimously agreed that the elections were not free and fair, but fell short of ordering a re-run, as three were in favor of a re-run and four were against it. 

The NRM party’s ‘sole candidate’ project which started in February 2014 at Kyankwanzi leadership institute and made the post of NRM Secretary cease to be an elective post but subject to appointment by the Party Chairman to disorganize and tame Mbabazi presidential ambitions has left the party more divided than ever. This coupled with internal bickering in other political parties and mistrust within opposition democratic alliance is going to spill over in political parties’ primaries, as most defeated aspirants will not take it lightly.

As the 2016 poll approaches, State engineered harassment and intimidation of opposition supporters is on the rise. By June 20, 2015, 86 Mbabazi supporters had been arrested and taken to unknown locations and so have hundreds of other opposition political parties’ supporters. The State  has invested heavily in training crime preventers in various parts of the country but the way it is handling them reveals a hidden factor –they are allegedly vigilantes and paramilitary groups being trained, by the NRM- government led administration, to participate in 2016 electoral process on the side of NRM. Opposition parties and individual opposition politicians are worried about this scenario, and some are secretly training their supporters on how to counteract these groups, to safeguard their 2016 election votes. This surely is a recipe for violence for 2016 elections.

The Police force is also becoming partisan and misinterpreting the Public Order Management Act (POMA) to curtail civil and political liberties of opposition political parties and their supporters. They are thus contributing to the skyrocketing polarization of the already polarized country.

The commercialization of politics in Uganda has for years been taking an upward trend. Winning an election is now expensive than before. People with political ambitions are selling their property to raise funds for use in looking for votes. To these politicians, winning an election is a matter of life and death. They will do, anything, including orchestrating violence, intimidation, and abducting their political opponent’s supporters.

The political tactics which the NRM government used to reject the crucial electoral reforms which included restoration of presidential term limits, and restructuring of the electoral commission to make it inclusive means that political parties and civil society organizations which worked so hard in presenting their electoral reforms proposal will participate in the 2016 elections minus faith in the government to offer reforms.

Fellow Ugandans and comrades in the struggle for good governance: Can the electoral commission arrange a better poll in 2016?  As expected, malpractices like bribery, intimidation, among others, are taking place and will take place in the 2016 poll. They will even be proved by the courts of law through the electoral petitions that will flood the law courts by aggrieved politicians. Shall we witness a re-run at the presidential level in case the winning candidate is taken to the Supreme Court and found to have committed these mentioned electoral malpractices?

By Moses Hategeka

The author [email protected] is a Ugandan based Independent Governance Researcher, Public Affairs Analyst, and Writer.