The State Minister for Investment and Privatisation, Evelyn Anite has opened up on her decision not to participate in the recent National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primaries, citing electoral violence as the key reason.
The former Koboko Municipality MP, who previously described herself as the "gateway to Koboko," said the increasing brutality in Uganda’s political landscape made it impossible for her to continue seeking elective office in good conscience.
"We did not go for colleges. We said it should be a mass election so that everyone participates and expresses and chooses their leader. But in the process of choosing your leader, you're supposed to be tolerant," Anite said.
"Now what I don't like is the violence. Where is it coming from? Now it is so unfair to the citizens that the party primaries left people dead," she said in an interview.
Anite further recounted disturbing stories of violence and destruction: "My car was bashed. Other people got their cars burnt. They have over 10 people in the hospital. Even when they've won, they're still nursing patients in the hospital."
She further noted, “Just because you want to represent people, one reason why I walked away from the election apart from commercialisation of the election was violence. I could not stand violence. I don't think that I want to represent people who are dead... that somebody has died because they were fighting to make Anite an MP. No!" Anite said.
Her remarks follow President Yoweri Museveni’s strong condemnation of the violent and chaotic scenes that unfolded during the July 17 NRM primaries.
In a statement issued on July 20, Museveni warned that perpetrators of electoral malpractice, including violence, bribery, and voter register tampering, would face prosecution.
“These are politically and ideologically wrong and must be condemned by all the lovers of the NRM and Uganda,” Museveni said.
Anite, who lost the NRM flag to Dr. Charles Ayume during the 2020 party primaries, has remained outspoken about the challenges within the party's internal democracy.
It should be recalled that following her defeat then, she controversially withdrew an ambulance she had earlier donated to Koboko Municipality.
Now, stepping back from the political arena, Anite says the deepening culture of intolerance and violence is reflective of a growing crisis in Uganda’s political character:
“This speaks to the character of Ugandans. What you saw that was exhibited in the party primaries, it is not an NRM issue. It is something that is cropping, a character that is cropping up among Ugandans.”
