Museveni speaks out on Oyam North MP by-election

Hours later, President Yoweri Museveni has congratulated UPC’s Eunice Apio after her Thursday win in Oyam North MP by-election.

Apio beat NRM’s Samuel Engola by a small margin.

In a statement Friday, the President congratulated both candidates.

He appealed to the NRM to pursue the legal path if the UPC cheated.

Full statement

Ugandans and, especially the Bazzukulu, Greetings. Congratulations to our allies, the UPC and for the candidate, Eunice Apio, for winning the Oyam by-elections. Congratulations also to the NRM and the candidate Engola Junior because the difference between the two was very small. If UPC cheated in any way, the NRM can follow the legal channels. I condemn and demand action against the law-breakers that are said to have ticked the ballots on behalf of the voters. This is treason and no NRM should ever take part in that crime. It is the Opposition that has been doing that around Kampala, with the incompetent NRM officials failing to catch them. If the voters cannot do so genuinely and influence the choice of the candidates and Parties, then how can the People guarantee their future and discipline leaders? This is why the NRM went to the bush. Vote rigging, bribery, violence, lies, etc., must be banished from our elections. I insist that all voting must be electronic, using the thumb prints. How, then, does the pre-ticking come in? Are some People still allowing non- electronic voting? UPC has been, in recent years, positive and not disruptive and so has DP been. That is why I congratulate them, although I would have preferred the NRM to win. Nevertheless, both the UPC and the DP should pay attention to what I said at Icheme recently. The sabotage of the UNC by the DP in 1954 and the sabotage of the UNLF in 1980 by both the UPC and the DP, denied Uganda a broad-based political force that could guarantee peace in Uganda, the way Tanu and Afro-Shirazi did in Tanzania. The two of them, again, since 1994 (the CA time), have been trying to sabotage the broad-based NRM but the People of Uganda have rejected their efforts. Therefore, the surviving UPC and DP members -people like Rwakasisi, John Kawanga, and Joyce Ssebugwawo (KY) – should sensitize their members about the historical mistakes that disadvantaged Uganda.

Museveni speaks out on Oyam North MP by-election