Pan African Movement

PAN AFRICAN MOVEMENT – UGANDA NATIONAL CHAPTER

Pan African Movement Observer Mission 2021

Pan Africanism, Confidence and Inclusion on Uganda’s Road to Peaceful and Credible elections

Kampala, 12th January, 2021

This week, yesterday 11th January, 2021, the Electoral Commission kickstarted the country’s general elections with the election of Councillors for Older Persons, Persons with Disabilities, and Youth Representatives to the Sub County/Town/Municipal Division. And, on Thursday 14th January, 2021, both presidential and parliamentary elections will be held.

The Pan African Movement is greatly concerned about Uganda’s general elections basing on the organization’s principle of “The right to organize and participate in our own governance”, and considering the aspirations of the African Union Agenda 2063, particularly Aspiration No.3, which aims to ensure good governance, democracy, and respect for human rights, justice and rule of law on the continent.

Today, we are delivering our statement for the pre-election environment aimed at offering guidance to the country and all actors across the world to avoid unnecessary but avoidable events which may deter the democratic principles of Uganda. On that note, we call upon all actors to refrain from any action, including violence, hate speech and incitement to violence, that could threaten human lives and undermine the electoral process, national stability and Africa’s progress.

Whereas Uganda has demonstrated its ability to conduct relatively credible elections in the previous polls, there is visible persistency of lack of full confidence and participation in the electoral process by the opposition parties. We are however glad that besides this dissatisfaction, as shown by the defiance stance of the leading opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change, the same politicians have continuously participated in the elections. Uganda citizens too, basing on our survey, have expressed a fervent desire to participate and contribute towards the polls so that they can experience the desired democracy which has been grown since the return to normalcy of the country in 1986.
This year’s polls are expected to be highly competitive, but also challenging due to the COVID19 restrictions. Campaigns have increasingly focused on issues that matter to Ugandans rather than on the personalities of the candidates as it used to be in the past. The increased use of internet sources, especially social media platforms, has affected information flow in a rather unprofessional reporting by non-journalists. We however commend media firms and a section of civil society who are contributing to a more informed, discerning, and engaged citizenry.
Full public confidence still requires more systematic measures to address persistent challenges in country’s electoral process. Key among these challenges are the need for increased transparency around important steps in the electoral cycle, the presence of vigilante groups and political activists, and the pervasiveness of disinformation, hate speech, and inflammatory language. In addition, electoral actors could do more to make elections more inclusive. In particular, the consistently low number of women candidates in the non-special interest category, fails to meet Pan African democratic standards.

Even though time seems to be over, there is still sufficient time for electoral actors to take urgent Patriotic steps to instill more confidence in the electoral process, mitigate the risks of electoral violence, encourage the full participation of all voters, and deliver on Ugandan’s high expectations for their democracy.

On observation, the Pan African Movement will not deploy an observer mission this time round due to challenges presented by COVID19. However, we have a team that will be monitoring and following the events of the election process via media.

We therefore recommend the following as bold steps to ensure a peaceful and credible electoral process:
• Political parties should adhere to upholding the commitment on Pan Africanism – unification of people and country at large, peacebuilding and sustainability the country’s stability, including publicly calling upon supporters, especially the youthful electorate, to refrain from violence.

• Further, political stakeholders and their supporters, should commit to resolve their differences peacefully, including through dialogue and appropriate institutional mechanisms, in accordance with national laws and principle of Pan Africanism.

• Political parties, civil society, and the media should engage the Electoral Commission when they have concerns and work in good faith to build consensus on solutions. We commend the EC for previously being pro-active, seeking and allowing engagements with the stakeholders which has ensured this improvement in the electoral process.

• Time is extremely limited. But we still implore Political parties to make efforts to provide financial and other support to mainly women and youthful candidates to offset the existing challenges which they are facing.

• To help create a space for women candidates, all parties should agree to a national ban on violence against women in elections, including a ban on hate speech and cyberbullying often used to target women. Political parties should uniformly publicly condemn any incidents of violence against women by their supporters.

• Media and civil society, in this remaining time, before and even after polls, they should amplify efforts to create platforms for candidate and inter-party debates, and discussions of issues of national and Pan African interest.

• We condemn the attacks against civilians, humanitarians, and, or State authority, as well as candidates. Either way peace should be upheld jealously and we call on the national security to ensure accountability for election-related violence.

The Pan African Movement through its Uganda National Chapter reiterates to the people of the Uganda, the continued support and solidarity, as we as African people strive to consolidate peace and democracy in Uganda and Africa as a whole.

Comrade Daniel Rugarama
Chairman,
National Executive Committee

The Pan African Movement will issue a press statement on the elections in Uganda, today at 1100hrs EAT at the Pan African Freedom Park, Kampala.

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