Museveni: "NRM no energy to rig elections"

President Museveni has lashed out at the National Unity Platform (NUP) for claiming that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) cheated in the recently concluded Kayunga district chairperson by-election.

According to the results, NRM’s Andrew Muwonge got 31,830 votes and NUP’s Harriet Nakwedde garnered 31, 308, with a thin margin of 500 votes.

Addressing the nation on December 31, Museveni noted that he didn’t know that NRM actors had enough energy to cheat because most of the time they are asleep and allow the opposition to intimidate people, cheat and do all sort of things.

"Why only cheat in Kayunga? Why not in the few other areas where NUP won? Kayunga, Buganda and the whole of Uganda are, politically, NRM territory. Why? It is because the NRM has done more for those areas than anybody else, the internal weaknesses within NRM, notwithstanding," Museveni said.

According to the president, the positions for by-elections in the whole country were 827 which included one LCV chairperson, LCIII chairpersons, municipality councillors, district councillors and LC 3 and town council coucillors.

He said the NRM won 392 of them unopposed.

Museveni said the tragic-comedy that was the Kayunga by-election had three elements where NUP thought they could win using underhand methods.

"Of course the police could not allow that. Hence, there were some skirmishes. This is exactly what NUP did in the general elections in some areas and what they were planning to do in the whole country if we had not deployed a considerable portion of the UPDF to crush that conspiracy, ”said Museveni.

He explained that the idea of these group of people was to create fear so that the massive supporters of the NRM do not come out to vote.

"This is self-deception. It cannot work in Uganda. I have given, in writing, guidelines to the Armed Forces to firmly and professionally ensure law and order and discipline in our society," he said.