The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) Spokesperson Sharon Oyat Arach has said that opposition parties have no means of rigging elections that have always been highly militarized.
She made the utterances while addressing members of the press on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at the party headquarters at Uganda House in Kampala and said, “Many opposition political parties in Uganda do not have the capacity and audacity to rig elections and involve in election malpractice.”
Arach was responding to President Museveni, who, while giving a keynote address at the inaugural 2024 Kampala Defence and Security Expo at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Hotel on September 12, 2024, claimed that in the 2021 presidential elections, the National Unity Platform (NUP) stole 1 million votes meant for President Museveni.
Arach also said that it’s the NRM government that has been rigging elections since 1980 and that Uganda has not had free and fair elections ever since the NRM took over power.
“Previous elections in 1958, 1961, 1962, and 1980’s were more credible than any other subsequent elections organized by the NRM, and this has been proved by the courts of law,” Arach said.
The UPC head of communications, Muzeeyi Faisal, condemned recent utterances by the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt Gen. Samuel Okiding, who revealed that retired army officers will be recalled for a new task of security during the 2026 elections.
“As UPC, we have been at the forefront of calling for demilitarization of the electoral processes. We demand a clearly defined role for any security agencies in the elections,” Muzeeyi said.
The NUP Party President Robert Kyagulanyi recently responded to the President’s accusations and asked him to cede power and his immunity so that they can freely go to court and seek the truth.
The DP Vice President Mukasa Mbidde, while commenting on the same accusation by President Museveni, said he should file a complaint and petition in case he feels aggrieved.
As we head into the 2026 elections, many political actors have come out to ask for electoral reforms that will see a free and fair 2026 election.
