Reply To: How Yoweri Museveni Cheated Elections

[Yoweri Museveni]

Chief of Defense Forces, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala has refuted claims that he is under arrest and detained at Makindye Military police barracks.

Gen Wamala says he has heard about information that is circulating on social media that he is under incarceration after he demanded that the Electoral Commission releases the correct results to avert a possible unrest. He says the information is not true and that Ugandans should treat it that way.

Much as the source and intention of information is yet to be established, Gen Wamala thinks the idea is to drive a wedge in the UPDF that is now involved in streets operations to ensure peace just after yesterday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

The elections were marred by massive irregularities, delayed delivery of election materials. In fact the opposition walked out of the Electoral Commission tally centre at Namboole, saying they can’t be party to a ‘sham’ election results.

“There has been a lot of efforts to cause anxiety in the populace. There have been machinations from some of those people who are bent to cause chaos in this country…one of them I can tell you for example, there was a plan to have a ‘photoshop’ [manipulated photo] where the army personnel were dragging the Kabaka [Buganda kingdom king] on the streets which photographs  they were printing and were going to throw in the public.

You can imagine what that would cause…[the rumour] is one of them again coming out to say Gen Katumba is under arrest. I don’t know how many telephone [calls] I have received in that message started circulating from all corners of the country and from all forms of people”, Wamala said.

Even though government instructed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to social media accounts such as facebook, twitter, WhatsApp among others at least until after the ‘security situation is assessed’, Ugandans circumvented the blockage – accessing the sites via virtual private networks (VPNs) which masks the user’s location. Reports indicate that an unprecedented 1.4 million VPNs were downloaded and installed by users in Uganda by the end of yesterday alone.

There is noted increased army presence on the streets of Kampala and there has been spontaneous protests – though quickly quelled in Najjanankumbi, Natete and Kisekka over the provisional election results being released by the Electoral Commission. According to the latest results from 13,305 of the 28,010 registered polling stations, Museveni is in the lead at 62.82% having received 2,900,109 votes so far.

Kizza Besigye is second with 1,507,495 votes (32.66%), Amama Mbabazi – 80,893 votes (1.75%), Venansius Baryamureeba Baryamureeba – 31,331 votes (0.68%), Maureen Kyalya – 23,076 votes (0.5%), Benon Biraaro 14,469 votes (0.31%) and Mabirizi with – 13,660  votes (0.3%). So far, the tallied votes stand at 4,606,403 while the invalid are 243,695 representing 5.01% of total tallied (4,860,098) which is 31.8% of registered voters.

The elections have been marred by gross irregularities. For example, tallying of election results in Sembaule had to be suspended in the morning when ‘results’ from Kirama, Ntusi primary school, Kazooba A, Lwemibu and Kinoni were presented for tallying even though voting at those polling stations had been suspended and did not take place yesterday.

In Bulambuli district, results from six polling stations – Bundikibolo, Suni, Luzzi primary school, Wandabiriri primary, Sisiyi and Tunyi health center III went missing. The returning officer said today morning that the results declaration forms had been stolen from the polling officials by unknown people last night.

Likewise in Bundibugyo, results declaration forms and the presiding officers of Busaru, Mirambi and Buragyetema polling stations could not be traced at the time of tallying the results today morning.

With ‘questionable’ results trickling into the EC tally centre and the recent political rhetoric especially from opposition candidates warning against vote rigging, security has been beefed up. Gen Wamala the army presence with heavy weaponry on the streets of Kampala and other parts of the country is not in any way to scare or intimidate Ugandans but rather to offer peace and security and backup the police.

We know and we have known all along that there are plans to destabilise this country using the elections as the spark. Some people have said that they will not accept the results and we know that behind that there were plans to make this country difficult to govern.

Acts like riots and as I speak now I now that some people bought tickets and actually left the country, people feared that immediately after the elections there is going to be violence which was going to be very costly in terms of life and property. We knew all that and so that is why we have come out as UPDF to buttress the police to ensure that we provide total security”, Wamala said during an interview with URN at the army office in Kampala.

He says the army on the streets will not make arrests but will work with the Police to provide general security to ensure that nobody’s security is disturbed. Wamala says the security situation in the country after the elections is generally peaceful and that the army wants to ensure the situation does not degenerate after the announcement of the results – where the incumbent Museveni is likely to be declared winner.

‘REIN IN SECURITY’

The army’s presence and heavy fighting machinery and seemingly no-sense approach towards protestors has not gone well with the international community. US secretary of state, John Kerry called on President Museveni to ‘reign in security’

According to a statement from the US Department of State, Kerry reminded President Museveni that “Uganda’s progress depends on adherence to democratic principles in the ongoing election process and that the United States stands by the Ugandan people as they undertake this most essential democratic endeavor”

The statement further adds that Kerry “expressed his concern about the detention of opposition candidate Kizza Besigye and harassment of opposition party members during voting and tallying, and he urged Museveni to rein in the police and security forces, noting that such action calls into question Uganda’s commitment to a transparent and credible election process free from intimidation”.

Kerry also urged Museveni “end this [social media] blockage immediately”

By 8.30pm today, Besigye was still detained at Nagalama police cells after he, with other party officials; Joyce Ssebugwawo, Ingrid Turinawe, Wasswa Birigwa and Gen Mugisha Muntu were arrested from the party offices during a police raid this afternoon. Police accused FDC of inciting the population by compiling and attempting to release their purported results that indicated that they Besigye was leading.