CSOs task parliament to pass the delayed electoral reforms

Civil Society Organisations have expressed their concerns over the delay in the passing of electoral reforms by Parliament.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Tuesday, Richard Ssewakiryanga,the executive director of the Uganda National NGO Forum said that parliament should consider addressing the issue of electoral reforms with immediate effect.

"The absence of the meaningful electoral reforms continue to make the citizens' participation in elections meaningless. We are entering the last year of ruling party's five year term in office and the electoral reforms necessary to secure the conducive democratic environment for citizens have not been enacted,"he said.

Charity Ahimbisibwe from the Citizens Coalition of Electoral Democracy said they will not only engage parliament about this but also other stakeholders.

"We are going to dialogue with institutions like electoral commission, police, Uganda Communication Commission because many journalists have been arrested doing their day to day work. We need democracy,"she said.

Civil society organizations also tasked government to address the problem of land grabbing, poor implementation of environmental policy measures and economic growth at the household level.

They said that if these issues are not solved with immediate effect, they could lead to the chaos in the country.

They condemned the police brutality against Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine and his supporters who were blocked from conducting their first consultative meeting in Gayaza in Wakiso district.

Henry Muguzi from the Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring said: "The police from what we have seen has become a tool for serving the interest of the regime."