The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Sarah Bireete the Executive Director at Center for Constitutional Governance has challenged the government to come out clearly and identify the enemies of the country which it claims are conniving with opposition forces to destabilize Uganda.
The government has often accused foreign forces for allegedly undermining the security and development that the country under NRM has achieved over the years. Managers of a telecom company have been deported for allegedly spying on Uganda for a foreign country.
Last month the accounts of two civil society organizations involved in promoting good governance and human rights were frozen by the Financial Intelligence authority over alleged links to terrorism. The NGOs are Uganda women’s network and the NGO Forum.
Speaking at a press conference at the headquarters of the NGO Forum in Kampala on Wednesday, Bireete insists that the laws of Uganda are clear and they require the executive to identify and table before parliament evidence of enemies of the country working to overthrow the regime.
She castigates the government for criminalizing individuals and organizations for allegedly working with the so called foreign enemies and yet it never produces any evidence. She says civil society has been falsely branded as foreign agents.
She has also condemned the Electoral Commission and the line ministry for failing to enact regulations clearly stating how technology is going to be used in the election next week. This is despite the enacting of laws in parliament providing for the use of technology in elections.
She asserts that eight days to voting nobody in civil society or the media knows where or when the technology was acquired or if it even works.
The electoral Commission is meant to deploy Biometric Voter Verification machines and an Electronic Transmission and Disseminations of Results system.
Civil society organizations under their umbrella the Uganda NGO Forum have also condemned the selective application of justice and rampant cases of human rights abuses in the country ahead of the General Election next week.
The executive director innovations for democratic engagement and action Job Kijja decries the escalating cases of what he terms as senseless abductions of several individuals by armed men in uniform as well as plain clothes.
Speaking at the press conference Kijja explained that the relatives of the abducted have been tossed around by security agencies in a desperate search for the detention places where their loved ones are being detained.
He notes that the victims have not been seen or heard of to date.
He also alleges that there are individuals going around in Mukono harassing people who are not supporters of incumbent MPs.
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