These #Ugandans can be funny sometimes. You want reforms>? Why do you even think that inviting your own democratically elected leader is worth a shot? You are the ones on the outside so reform yourselves and go with the flow. The man is busy. Get used to it. It takes a lot of work to sell the national assets to investors, find your oil and minerals and ensure no one loots them. Now with the sale of Lake Vic, temumumalia budde. Besides, we have other things like, WAIt wait... a new hospital going up (Seventh Adventist), some Universities and there is the one school where there is no pit latrine. I mean people are shitting into bushes and you think your fancy conference has priority. We have the Railway, Mukono Katosi Road, some unversities on strike (one mbu they do not wanna repeat exams, tumbafu, let them go into something technical) and some kids were on strike because they could not watch Arsenal vs. ManU. Roll up your sleeves and work - jeez. ------------------------------------- The absence of president Museveni at the opening of the three days National Consultation on Free and Fair Elections dubbed Our Country My Duty has caused mixed reactions among the different dignitaries that attended the forum. Speaking to ChimpReports, the National Coordinator of Free and Fair Elections campaign, Fred Mwesigwa noted that it was a sign of irresponsibility by the country’s president who was informed in time and whose attendance would be crucial in the debate. “I personally took the letter to State House and I confirmed that the president received it and this was after State House officials had earlierdenied receiving the letter from our messengers,” Mwesigwa told chimp corp Nixon Segawa in an interview. Mwesigwa said that after the president received the letter, there were several demands and conditions that he put up if in case he was to attend the forum to which we adhered and made several adjustments to our program. “I know from our sources that the president anticipated that there would be insults, bullying and a lot of criticism from the gathering towards him and I believe that’s why he decided not to attend.” When asked if president Museveni had showed interest in the forum in the start, Mwesigwa alluded, “Yes that’s why he went ahead to put up some conditions which we fulfilled.” Mwesigwa however refused to reveal the conditions that the president demanded before he would attend. NRM spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo had earlier said government had no business with an exercise championed by the opposition and civil society. He told Chimpreports on phone that government was pursuing its own process of electoral reforms through a Cabinet subcommittee, which would be presented and passed at parliament not at Hotel Africana. “Government is not answerable to the opposition or the civil society but to the people of Uganda. You know that the Minister of Justice issued a notice calling for national input in the reforms. There’s a cabinet subcommittee looking into that and soon, parliament will debate and pass the reforms,” he said. On the same note, the President Uganda Federal Alliance, Betty Kamya said that the absence of president Museveni wouldn’t be a surprise to anybody citing that the whole forum was aimed at trimming his power as the president and this would be a threat to any leader in power. “Even if I was the one, I wouldn’t allow bearing the insults that would come from the opposition and civil society organizations that aim at fighting me through electoral reforms,” Kamya told ChimpReports. According to one of the organizers, and NGO Forum Executive Director Dr Richard Sewakiryanga, an invitation was extended to a number of government officials who didn’t show up at the conference. President Yoweri Museveni who was invited to officiate at the opening of the three-day conference was also absent, and not represented. Sewakiryanga however noted that since today was the first day of the forum, there is still hope that the president might come and attend within the remaining days. chimpreports/why-museveni-snubbed-electoral-reforms-forum/
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 22:42:25 +0000