Tumukunde asked the Electoral Commission not to rush to organize the 2021 elections because coronavirus is still here.
The former spymaster and Security Minister Lt.Gen.Henry Tumukunde has asked the Electoral Commission not to rush to organize the 2021 general elections because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week on Tuesday the Electoral Commission launched a revised road map in which it banned mass rallies and campaigns. According to Justice Simon Byabakama, candidates will only campaign using radios, TVs and social media in what has been named as the scientific elections.
In a press conference held by the former Security Minister, he joined other politicians especially those from the opposition who have been condemning the electoral commission in a move of organizing a scientific election. Tumukunde asked the electoral commission to postpone the elections until the situation is safe.
“Everybody is seeing this coronavirus pandemic, if the situation is not safe then something else has to be done .it’s because of this reason that we cannot carry out fully-fledged campaigns .what are we now rushing for,” Lt. Gen. Tumukunde said during the press conference.
The chairman of the Electoral Commission Justice Simon Byabakama said that the 2021 general elections will have to go on as planned in the revised road map. To comply with the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization candidates will not be allowed to carry out mass rallies to combat the spread of the pandemic.
“All campaigns will be conducted through the media because some of our political players are not disciplined,” Byabakama said.
Byabakama added that there will be standard operating procedures which will be followed on the Election Day. The procedures include; washing hands, wearing face masks and social distancing.
Tumukunde noted that for a revised road map to be implemented the Electoral law must be amended.
“You can’t change the campaigning method without changing the law because this is not a normal situation .if it was one then there could be no need to carry out campaigns in such a manner,” Tumukunde said.
“If there are social distancing and other measures then how will voting materials be delivered in this time if it has been hard to deliver the materials in the normal situation how about now,” he noted.
Tumukunde wondered what will happen if the electoral officials get infected during the process yet it’s not provided in the law.
“What if you discover that an area chairman is infected so what happens,” he said
