The Prime  Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda has Wednesday January 20^th, 2021 held a joint press briefing with the Minister for Foreign Affairs  Hon. Sam Kutesa, during which they addressed ambassadors and the media about events that unfolded  prior to, during and after the presidential and parliamentary elections on January 14^th.

Chief among the issues that premier Rugunda and Minister Kutesa addressed during the press briefing was the internet shutdown across the country during and after the elections, National Unity Platform  (NUP) candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s rejection of the election results, his continued house arrest, heavy deployment armed soldiers and the high-handedness that security forces  have exhibited on some opposition politicians throughout the electoral process.

However, what characterised the address was  the Premier and Kutesa’s continued intonations about Bobi Wine’s purported ‘Plan B’, which they said prompted security forces to step up deployments across the country and to put him under house arrest.

Commenting  about Bobi Wine’s rejecting the election results and vowing to challenge National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s presidency in court, Kutesa noted that;

“Uganda since the pandemic has prioritized human rights. The government of Uganda developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) given the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Candidates were also supposed to follow Ministry of  Health guidelines.

Unfortunately, some of the political leaders who lost in the election have continued to make inflammatory statements aimed at inciting people to violence.”

He added that; “Also some of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter unfairly shut down Government of Uganda and NRM Online party accounts leaving accounts of the other political actors active. Despite all this Government managed to preserve peace in the country.

We asked Facebook and Twitter to restore the closed Government of Uganda and NRM Online party accounts but they didn’t heed. In response we shut them down to ensure equity.”

About Bobi Wine’s Plan B

Although Minister Kutesa didn’t explain exactly what he meant by the phrase ‘Plan B’, he insinuated that Bobi Wine and his NUP supporters had planned to stage violent demonstrations across the country after rejecting the election results, reason  why he (Bobi Wine) is currently under detention at his home in Magere.

“When campaigns kicked off, the Electoral Commission (EC) noted with concern the non-compliance by some of the candidates with the laid out campaign guidelines and SOPs. Although several engagements were made with the said candidates, there was no improvement,” Kutesa told the ambassadors and journalists at the presser.

U.S Ambassador to Uganda H.E Natalie Brown (R) interacting with other diplomats after the presser

He added that; “From the beginning of the campaigns some candidates talked about Plan B which was to commit violent acts. Against this background, the government of Uganda deployed the army in Kampala and its surrounding areas because it was a threat to our democratic process.”

It should be noted that Bobi Wine is under house arrest after security personnel cordoned off his home on Thursday January 14^th, shortly after he and wife Barbra Itungo Kyagulanyi had voted.

Bobi Wine and  his wife  have since been denied access to lawyers, relatives, colleagues and friends, both local and international.

Among the high profile people that have been blocked from visiting Bobi Wine by security personnel deployed by government at his home is the United States ambassador to Uganda H.E Natalie E. Brown, who was denied access to his residence on Tuesday.

Commenting about Bobi Wine’s house arrest on Tuesday, Police Spokesperson SSP Patrick Onyango said that the police had decided to put the NUP presidential candidate under preventive arrest after they got intelligence that he and his supporters were planning to stage violent demonstrations in various cities across the country.

By Our Reporter