Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, the interim leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Katonga faction, has accused the Uganda Electoral Commission (EC) of playing hide and seek in order to frustrate and sabotage their yet-registered People’s Front for Freedom Party (PFF).
Lukwago, while speaking to journalists at EC headquarters in Kampala on Monday, September 23, 2024, expressed disappointment in the way they were tossed around to meet the EC Chairperson, Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama, which he said was so disrespectful. He wondered how the EC staff will be capable of announcing correct electoral results if they can hide the chairperson.
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Lukwago, alongside Herold Kaija, and Doreen Nyanjura, the Kampala deputy Lord Mayor, had gone to meet the EC chairperson to discuss issues concerning the delayed registration of their new political party.
“How can the Electoral Commission lie to the leaders who are at the national level and resort to hide and seek? I am assuring the commission that we are ready to counter them in the fulfillment of our constitutional rights, and therefore they should stand warned,” Lukwago said.
He demanded the EC justify its rejection of the Katonga faction’s proposed party name and symbols.
Lukwago further noted that the Electoral Commission is applying unnecessary procedures, claiming to first sit and permit them to pick party registration forms, which to him is logically unnecessary.
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In 2023, the Katonga faction parted ways with FDC Najanakumbi over allegations of accountability, intrigue, and accusations of Najjanankumbi working for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, hence prompting the Katonga faction to register their own political party in August 2024, which they named People’s Front for Freedom Party (PFF). However, the Secretary of the Electoral Commission, Leonard Mulekwah, wrote a letter instructing the People’s Front for Freedom Party to comply with the Political Parties and Organizations Act of 2005, which prohibits registering political parties or organizations with names or symbols already in use by other registered parties.
