The Kampala Lord Mayor, Ssalongo Erias Lukwago has said the Electoral Commission has no power to suspend campaign rallies in the country as many aspirants continue conversing for votes ahead of the 2021 polls.
This, Lukwago said shortly after Uganda’s electoral body decided to suspend campaigns in selected districts and cities that are regarded as high risk areas for the spread of covid-19.
The identified cities and districts include: the Capital City, Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara, Kabarole, Luweero, Kasese, Masaka, Wakiso, Kalungu, Kazo, and Tororo.
According to the Electoral Commission acting spokesperson, Paul Bukenya, the suspension takes immediate effect.
However, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago says the power of suspending the campaigns doesn’t belong to the Electoral Commission but other organs.
“In effect Justice Byabakama has declared a de-facto state of emergency in Kampala and some other districts. He should be reminded that such powers are vested in other organs of state and not EC,” he said before adding that;
“We’re all concerned about the surging cases of Covid-19 infections, but we must respect our constitution and avoid reckless and injudicious acts that are likely to drive our country into anarchy.”
At the start of campaigns the EC issued guidelines to be followed by candidates in order to limit the spread of covid-19.
Among these was limiting meetings to not more than 200 people in order to enable the observance of the ministry of Health Covid-19 measures.
However, the commission accused some candidates of holding their campaigns in a manner that violates the guidelines for the conduct of campaign meetings.
Over the past months, 2021 aspiring candidates for the different electoral positions have been involved in running battles with the Police over the manner which the campaigns were being organised including the famous riots that hit the different areas of the country over the detention of presidential aspirant Robert Kyagulanyi.
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