Push MPs on reforms - Muntu
Gen Mugisha Muntu chats with some of the district party leaders in Masaka on Monday. PHOTO BY Martins E Ssekweyama
What you need to know:
Joint call. The main Opposition leader rallies all parties to consolidate the support countrywide.
MASAKA. The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party president, Gen Mugisha Muntu, is mobilising the electorate across the country to put more pressure on their legislators to push for electoral reforms.
Government on Monday released a timetable indicating that the Constitutional Amendment Bill for the reforms would be gazzeted on April 24 before it is tabled in Parliament.
But the Opposition that has been at the forefront of pushing for electoral reforms says government is deliberately delaying the process whose outcomes will determine the fate of the 2016 elections.
Speaking to FDC party leaders from the central region in Masaka District on Monday, Gen Muntu stressed that in order for the Opposition to realise the desired reforms, it has to push for them directly.
“What we want to do is to ensure that the electorate take the lead in demanding these reforms. We want them to put pressure on MPs, especially those in the NRM, to support the reform and if not, they deny them votes,” he said.
Gen Muntu referred to findings of the Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda, which suggested that 70 per cent of the population in the country wants reforms in electoral laws, arguing that this is enough justification that majority Ugandans want a country that adheres to the rule of law and constitutionalism.
He said he has already undertaken the responsibility of marketing the same idea to other Opposition political parties. In addition, Gen Muntu emphasised that it is now imperative for all Opposition political parties to consolidate their strength before they can debate whether to boycott the next elections if the reforms are not considered.
