The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Museveni’s blame game
President Museveni usually blames election violence on the opposition politicians.
Speaking after the violent National Youth elections on Aug.19, a visibly angry Museveni said he will no longer tolerate people he called “idiots” cause chaos during the elections.
“You have absolutely no right to attack me for wanting to vote. We shall deal with those idiots. People are playing around too much. You have no right absolutely to speak to me rudely. I am in my country, in my house, doing my work and besides my right. You have no right to attack me,” the president said, “We are going to crash those criminals.”
He said the police must act on people who case violence.
“Any policeman who doesn’t discipline this will go and look after goats. People are attacked when the police is there! What is the police for? This is finished. Anybody who has been playing with that, the game is over,” he said.
Museveni repeated the warning on Sept. 03, just two days to the NRM primaries.
He said following the victory of the NRM in 1986, the party resolved to end any interference with the right of the People to choose the party of their choice and the individuals to represent them.
He listed the election-related vices his party banned and legislated against as: multiple voting, bribery, violence, and gerrymandering the electoral areas (mixing different administrative areas to create artificial Constituencies). Others were using sectarianism, using bad language, altering results, and keeping the names of the dead on the register or refusing to register some voters.
“Therefore, those office-seekers, who commit the offences that I have enumerated, are enemies of Uganda and must be defeated,” he wrote, ”Those in the NRM primaries that are doing these, are enemies of Uganda whether they know it or not and must stop or will be stopped by the freedom fighters.”
Museveni again pointed at the government officials who must stop election related crimes. He listed his representatives at district level; the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and their assistants; the District internal Security Officers (DISO) and the Regional and District Police Commanders (RPC and DPC).
“There is no part of Uganda that does not have these powerful officers,” he said, “How, then, can corruption, violence, votes rigging etc., go on in an area without their knowledge?”
Museveni added: “I put all these officials on notice. If these bad things go on in your area and I end up getting to know from the people directly, without you doing something before, I will go for”.
It is not clear if Museveni does not know that the officers he is depending on to halt the election violence are usually the perpetrators. In any case, many Ugandans are anxiously waiting to hear what he has to say about the violence and other malpractices in the NRM primaries.
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