Former Leader of Opposition and Nyendo Mukungwe MP, Mathias Mpuuga, today warned Parliament that the violence witnessed in the Kawempe by-election is merely a rehearsal for what Ugandans can expect in the 2026 elections.
“The Kawempe by-election is a rehearsal of hard times ahead of us and I pray, I will be around to remind this House and members, acquiescing with violence and that state violence will not help anybody,” Mpuuga stated.
He also dismissed the government’s promise to address the situation on 6th March 2025, questioning the rationale behind the military presence during a by-election.
Mpuuga responded to remarks made by David Bahati, the Minister of Trade and Industry, who distanced the government from the violence during the recent Kawempe North by-election.
The government claimed that the actions of security operatives brutalizing citizens were not state-sanctioned and proposed holding the perpetrators accountable.
“We stated last week that there is no state sponsored violence in these elections that the state hasn’t sanctioned this and the people who are doing this harming people in elections should be brought to book,” Bahati said.
Bahati told parliament that Government is doing much to ensure that people enjoy the freedom ushered in by the National Resistance Movement, they elect their leaders in a free environment.
“We shall continue to guard against this violence so that people can elect their leaders in a free and fair environment,” minister Bahati added.
Opposition MPs protested the brutality and arrests during the campaign trail, to which the government responded by stating that the actions were carried out by individuals, not as a state-sanctioned effort.
Mpuuga, however, pointed out that individuals accused of violence in previous elections have been promoted to higher positions without facing any consequences a claim that Bahati refuted.
“From the last elections, those who committed crimes against citizens have never been brought to book including the gentleman who shot the journalist, Ashraf Kasirye. He is well known, well documented, Kasirye is exiled in the US, the gentleman who shot him was promoted. So we have to speak to ourselves, probably put a big mirror to our faces and agree as to what we are dealing with,” Mpuuga said.
“There is no rational explanation as to the presence of the military in the by-election. We need to understand what we are dealing with, we are dealing with an Electoral Commission that is disempowered, they can do nothing. The pretence must stop, if we are intentional about building a democracy, we must speak to what we are dealing with, if we don’t want elections, do away with them and rule by martial law.”
