By Our Staff Writer

6^th Dec 2010

UPC Boss Dr. Otunnu

A group calling itself “Uganda 2011 Free and Fair Elections – Campaign Group (International Division)” has launched an online petition to help UPC party President Dr. Olara Otunnu gather the five million “anti-Kiggundu EC signatures” he is looking for.

Dr. Vincent Magombe, a London based Ugandan Journalist who appears to be closely associated with the new campaign group told Uganda Correspondent that the campaign was still in its infancy but is expected to attract more Ugandans as time goes on.

“…the online petition has only been fully operational in the last few days and we are in the process of informing fellow citizens about the project.  We are not yet talking thousands (or millions as is the case with the Uganda-based campaign) but by the end of today [Sunday 5^th December] we should have at least 200 hundred pioneer signatures”, Dr. Magombe said.

Dr. Magombe however said he was very optimistic that from this week, the campaign “…should see a steady flow of signature traffic.  In the next few days, most Diaspora Ugandans from all corners of the world will have become aware of the online petition” that is hosted on the ‘ipetitions’ site http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/uganda2011-free_and_fair_elections/

Like Otunnu, the group argues that the Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission is politically aligned to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and has in fact “…been the primary instrument of electoral fraud and rigging on behalf of the regime”.

Because of that, the group says, it believes the Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission is incapable of delivering free and fair elections for the people of Uganda.  The group adds that the Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission “…has compiled a fatally flawed voter register.  That register cannot therefore be the basis for organising free and fair elections”.

As a way of adding credibility to its claims, the group pointed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s report to the US Congress which it says “…clearly highlights numerous instances of harassment of opposition leaders and concludes that the lack of an independent election commission undermines the election’s credibility”.

The group also points to retired Supreme Court Judge Justice George Kanyeihamba’s remarks in which the Judge, as one of the Judges who heard Dr. Besigye’s 2006 petition, admitted that the Supreme Court treated Dr. Besigye unfairly when it failed to nullify the results of the 2006 presidential election [as declared by the Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission] that sent Museveni back to State House as President of Uganda.

In the concluding remarks of its campaign literature that is doing the rounds on the internet now, the new group says, “…the prospects for the next Ugandan elections are clouded with political, economic, and human rights uncertainties”.

And sounding very much like UPC President Dr. Olara Otunnu in his consistent attacks on both President Museveni and his Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission, the group’s campaign slogan is “Free and Fair Elections Now!  We Must Take Back Our Country”.  Their key demands are to have “a new and independent Electoral Commission” and “a clean and verifiable voters register”.

The ruling NRM government has however previously said that Diaspora Ugandans are irrelevant to Uganda’s elections because they are not allowed to vote. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.