President Yoweri Museveni’s younger brother Godfrey Aine Kaguta aka Sodo, has stepped down from the parliamentary race just a day before the elections, less than a month after he was officially named the National Resistance Movement  (NRM) Mawogolo North flag bearer, following weeks of contention with Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa’s daughter Shartsi Musherure Kutesa.

Sodo had earlier on (during primaries) been denied the party ticket by the NRM Secretariat after his rival Musherure filed complaints of malpractice.

However, court mid last month granted him the NRM Party ticket following a suit he had filed challenging the decision of the NRM Secretariat.

The impasse arose after Sodo won in the NRM party primaries but Musherure petitioned the Secretariat and alleged that there had been lots of malpractices.

Since there was no time to hold another election, the NRM secretariat decided to withdraw the party ticket from Sodo who had initially won it and ordered both candidates to contest as independents.

But Sodo went to court to reverse this decision since he had won the primaries.

After hearing both sides, court ordered that Sodo must hold the NRM party ticket in the 2021 general elections.

However, in a sheer twist of events, Sodo has since shocked and surprised many after he announced that he had pulled out of the race in favour for Musherure, who wields immense support in the constituency.

By Baron Kironde

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa, the president of Uganda has banned Facebook in Uganda.

Museveni argued that it is not appropriate for Facebook to partially interfere with the usage of its services to target some groups.

“The other day Facebook decided to block the NRM message senders. Why would anybody do that? When I heard about that I told our people to warn them. That social media channel (Facebook), if it’s going to operate in Uganda, it should be used equitably by everybody,” Museveni said.

“I am sorry for the inconvenience to those who have been using this channel (Facebook), but we cannot tolerate this arrogance of anybody coming to decide for us who is good and who is bad,” the president warned.

“There is no way anybody can come and play around with our country to decide who is good and bad,” he added.

President Museveni also warned some groups that he said have made it a habit to cheat in elections. “I want to tell you, that cheating is treason. When you use violence to intimidate to be voted for, you are committing treason,” he warned.

“If you plan to cheat or alter results so that you win even when the majority didn’t vote for you, it means you won’t go back to solve the issues of the people because you will cheat in the next election. This renders democracy null and void. I am warning everyone, don’t try to cheat,” he added.

President Museveni also appealed to EC to not allow any voting where a thumbprint is not used. “Anybody trying to cheat, we shall go for them. Don’t waste our time by trying to cheat. One of the reasons we are appealing to you to vote peacefully is because your country is doing very well,” the president said.

President Museveni revealed that sometimes he gets problems with some of Uganda’s foreign partners because they don’t understand the history of Uganda. He said they don’t know that Uganda is strong because of the massive organization, strong strong army, and strong economy.

“We realized the importance of the private sector, and because of that, we have a very strong economy which will be stronger if we eliminate corruption. Ugandans, be confident, we have everything. Our economy is strong and so is the army, and it is well experienced,” the president said, urging all citizens to go and vote. “If anybody tries to intimidate you, we shall deal with him or her,” the president warned.

By Baron Kironde

As the country nears the D-day for presidential elections this Thursday, a new research from Afro-barometer shows that National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who is also the incumbent is in the lead.

In a 54-page document, Afro-barometer says that the research was conducted between 22 December 2020 and 7 January 2021 in 300 enumeration areas across 110 districts.

“President Museveni holds a clear lead, but many respondents would not say how they intended to vote, so the final outcome may be much closer. The nation could also be headed toward electing a more closely divided Parliament,” Afro-barometer says.

They add that although a majority of Ugandans are prepared to vote and see the Electoral Commission as well prepared, fewer trust that the 2021 elections will be free, fair, and credible.

“Large majorities of respondents say they have National ID Cards (85%), are registered to vote (84%), have confirmed the name and location of their polling station (77%), and have verified their voter registration status (74%),” the research says.

“Among the 84% of survey respondents who said they were registered to vote, more than half (53%) indicated they would vote for President Yoweri Museveni, while 18% said they would cast their ballots for challenger Robert KyagulanyiSentamu (better known as BobiWine).”

Concerning whether drama that has been witnessed during the campaigns, the research notes, “Fewer than half of respondents feel that the election campaign environment has been free and fair for all candidates.

The proportion of Ugandans who say the opposition and its supporters are “often” or “always” silenced by government has almost doubled compared to 2015, to 61%. Fear of political intimidation or violence during elections has increased compared to 2011.”

“Large majorities expect that the losing side will not accept the election results (80%) but believe that security agencies will be able to prevent large-scale violence (73%),” the research says.

Below are some of the highlights from the research: