By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential flag bearer, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has challenged the Electoral Commission’s decision to suspend campaigns in the 12 districts citing the high spread of the deadly coronavirus.
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The Electoral Commission on Saturday suspended campaign meetings in Kampala, Tororo, Mukono, Jinja, Wakiso, Kabbarole among other districts in the country citing continued violation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
However, President Museveni is not happy with the electoral commission’s move to suspend his campaigns in these areas saying he has never held any rally other than meeting the party’s top leaders through whom he delivers his message to the voters.
“I have never held rallies but it looks like this Electoral Commission man has placed me together with Kyagulanyi but God is watching. We have never had rallies,” Museveni said on Monday.
READ ALSO: Just In: EC Suspends Campaigns In Kampala, 10 Other Districts Over Escalating COVID-19 Cases
“We only have leaders meetings and when we meet supporters we don’t get out but because he (Byabakama) has ordered, we agree, I am now a diplomat and no one will say I campaigned. Tell him (Byabakama), we saw a man who looks like the UN official,” Museveni added.
In the same vein, the NRM secretary general Kasule Lumumba noted that the electoral commission should have organized a meeting with all the stakeholders to consult them before making such a decision given the short time remaining to the 2021 general elections further tasking Byabakama to come up with clear guidelines and a strategy on how the candidates can campaign in the earmarked districts without jeopardizing peoples lives
The EC spokesperson, Paul Bukenya told journalists that campaign meetings and rallies are considered to be leading the spread of the virus and therefore had to be suspended in the mentioned districts until further notice.
By the time the campaigns in the 12 districts were banned, Museveni who usually hold meetings with NRM leaders was only left with greater Mukono, Wakiso, and Kampala districts.
