Arthur Bainomugisha, Executive Director of ACODE, emphasised the importance of internal party grooming for leadership:
“There should be an aspect of nurturing leadership within political parties. One of the tenets of democracy is competition, which gives citizens a choice. Moving forward, we would like to examine the manifestos of these candidates so we can critically evaluate them.”
However, questions of fairness in the race remain unresolved. Jacqueline Nakayiza, a political analyst, pointed to the power imbalance:
“You cannot speak of a level playing field in these presidential elections because one candidate has been in power for four decades and controls much of the country. He even appointed the Electoral Commission that oversees the elections.”
Nakayiza further noted that parties like the ruling NRM enjoy a significant advantage because of their deep-rooted grassroots structures, which enabled them to easily collect 98,000 signatures required for nomination. She argued that opposition parties must find innovative ways to raise funds and build strong networks from the grassroots if they are to compete effectively.
On gender representation, both analysts expressed concern over the persistent gaps. Bainomugisha pointed out that despite strides made in empowering women, structural challenges still hinder their participation:
“Women make up 51% of our population, so if they have no one representing them, we continue to struggle. Without representation, they cannot influence policy, and that creates a problem.”
Nakayiza echoed the sentiment but stressed that the solution should go beyond symbolic inclusion:
“We should not have women in the presidential race merely for affirmative action or to fill a statistic. We want strong women to step forward and compete fairly. Unfortunately, those who have entered the race are not yet that strong. We need to catapult strong women into the race and co-opt them into positions of government.”