On February 18th, Ugandans went to polls to elect a new head of state in a dramatic election that saw social media shut down for the first time in Uganda.
After the election, several reports were written and released by different observer teams indicating that in some parts of the country, voters were intimidated, while a big number of polling stations did not see the luxury of their ballots being counted, with excuses of them being filed in later than the stipulated time.
All that said, President Yoweri Museveni, the NRM presidential candidate emerged a winner of the election beating seven other candidates.
Museveni extended his 30 year rule with a 60.8 percent of the vote, while FDC Candidate Kizza Besigye secured only 35.4 percent. Other candidates in the race were former premier John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, Dr. Abed Bwanika Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, only female candidate Maureen Kyalya, Mabirizi John Elton, Maj. Gen. Benon Biraro.
But, ever since the electoral commission announced Museveni’s win on February 20th 2016, opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has disputed the election as a fraud claiming their candidate won.
They even went ahead to hold a parallel swearing in ceremony of Kiiza Besigye, landing him into trouble with the law enforcers who have charged him with treason.
A number of campaigns were also carried out under a code name “Defiance Campaign” that would later be banned by Steven Kavuma, the deputy chief justice.
When protests against the Kavuma’s court order failed, the party decided they would not participate in any government programs, claiming NRM is illegitimate. They decided not to front a leader of opposition in parliament, claiming FDC is the ruling party, and not the opposite.
Things have however turned around with the party president Mugisha Muntu going against a decision by rivals in the party by electing Kasese woman MP, Winnie Kiiza as the Leader Of Opposition (LOP).
This would mean the party accepts and concedes defeat.
However, Maj. Gen. Muntu explains that the party doesn’t regret its ultimate decision to appoint the Leader of Opposition despite the contradiction.
Muntu told the press at Najjanankumbi yesterday that “This isn’t acknowledging that we were defeated but rather understanding that yes, we won and were cheated; but must cope with the situation at hand which is clear that it’s Gen. Museveni in government and do whatever is possible to change the situation at hand until it changes in our favor.”
He added;
"This decision will not tear members of the party because we have made even more complicated decisions more than this for citing the example where some members were opposed to their participation in the just concluded results without electoral reforms.”
Failure by FDC to choose a LOP on time was causing the tenth parliament to lag behind as the Speaker needed to seek a LOP’s permission to get some of NRM MPs who are majority sit with their opposition counterparts since the house is too small to accommodate the newly sworn in 426 members.
Speaker Kadaga told the house that the opposition still has some vacant seats they could share with NRM, but only if the leader of opposition agrees to her pleas.
With a new LOP in system, FDC could as well say, we have conceded defeat, we give up the fight for presidency until 2021, when we shall try again.
