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In an exclusive interview with The Guardian yesterday, Dr Abdallah Makame, the spokesperson of former president Ali Hassan Mwinyi who is the head of the EAC Observers mission, said as of yesterday morning it was ‘business as usual’ in Kampala ahead of tomorrow’s General Election.
“The situation is calm, people are going about their businesses as usual,” he reassured stakeholders.
He reiterated that the role of the observers was to only ‘watch, document and report’ but not to get directly involved.
“Our observers are already deployed in various areas of the country and we will issue a press statement after the elections,” he said but refrained from commenting on any preliminary poll results, asserting that the observers “...will wait for the final results.”
According to a statement issued by the EAC secretariat, a 50-member election observer mission has been deployed. There are a total of 12 Eala MPs, three from every EAC partner state.
According to a statement issued by the EAC secretariat, a 50-member election observer mission has been deployed. There are a total of 12 Eala MPs, three from every EAC partner state.
Tanzania is represented by Maryam Ussi, Abdullah Mwinyi and Shy-Rose Bhanji.
Reached for comments, Shy-Rose Bhanji said; “I feel honoured and privileged to be nominated among the Eala/EAC election observers’ mission for the Uganda election. I promise to do my best.”
“We also feel privileged to have our former president as the head of the EAC delegation...the assignment is in qualified hands and he is very passionate about the EAC integration,” the legislator added.
The news of a calm Kampala brings relief after riot police clashed with opposition on Monday leaving at least one person dead and numerous others wounded.
Uganda police confirmed one person dead during the Monday clashes.
The day’s scuffles also saw the lead opposition presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, who heads the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, arrested twice.
Police said he was taken into custody not to intimidate him and his followers but because his procession was matching out of the agreed route and disrupting businesses.
“Uganda is doomed...we cannot have a fair election when this is what the police do. Whenever there are elections they tear us gas and arrest us… how can we be expected to have a fair competition?” queried Coleen Nantongo, an FDC parliamentary candidate for Kampala Central according to media reports.
The opposition leader Kizza Besigye, has lost three elections against president Yoweri Museveni to whom the former served as a personal physician in the past.
This will be Museveni’s fifth presidential election since the Tanzania-supported 1986 coup put him in power.
The members of the EAC Election Observer Mission has been drawn from different but complementary disciplines and includes members of the East African Legislative Assembly, delegates from four Partner States (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi), EAC youth ambassadors, mission leader, mission coordinator, one EAC executive staff and technical officers from the secretariat as well as EALA.
The exclusion of members from the Republic of Uganda is consistent with the adopted practice on the Principles of Election Observation and Evaluation which precludes nationals of the host country from participating as Election Observers in their own countries.
The EAC Observer Mission is a response to the invitation of the Uganda Electoral Commission as well as the decision of the EAC Council of Ministers on observation of elections in the Partner States.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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