“Museveni has been speaking about democracy, but where is that democracy he speaks of if he can't tolerate those who criticise his government? What is happening in villages undermines the same democracy he talks about,” Ssenyonyi said.
The competition aims to encourage every Ugandan to confidently sing the National Anthem while promoting the use of Kiswahili and increasing appreciation of the East African Community anthem as Uganda advances regional integration.
“Recently we were in Kalangala for the by-election and we appealed to Justice Byabakama to ensure that we have a free and fair election but after the elections he only came out to lament after he had seen the chaos and injustice by the military and state goons. Sadly he didn’t have enough stamina to cancel the results, which is absurd and we wouldn’t want to go through the same in these coming Local Council elections,” Buwembo said.
The protesters had seven key demands, among them being the resignation of Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, the resignation of the four back bencher commissioners, reducing the number of Members of Parliament (MPs), and reducing the MPs' salaries and allowances to Ugx 3 million, among others.
The protesters put forward several demands, including the resignation of the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among and the four backbench commissioners, a reduction in the number of Ugandan MPs, an audit into MPs' lifestyles, the resignation of any MPs involved in corruption scandals and a reduction in MPs' salaries and allowances to a maximum of Ugx 3 million.