By Sharon S. Tibenda

17^th January 2011

Flambouyant Gen. Jeje Ogongo

The Inter Party Cooperation has challenged the UPDF as an institution to either punish State Minister of Defence Gen. Jeje Odongo for his unlawful remarks or openly declare its support for the General so that Ugandans know what to expect from the army in this election.

Gen. Odongo, a flamboyant former army commander, was reported to have told officers and men of the UPDF at Gaddafi Junior Staff College in Jinja last Friday that the widespread calls for the army to stay away from politics in this election were “misguided”. The General then called on army officers not to be deterred by what he referred to as “contradictory and intimidating statements” over their involvement in the forthcoming general elections.

Reacting to Gen. Odongo remarks, the IPC’s Director of Communication & Publicity M/s Margaret Wokuri said, “…these appalling remarks from a soldier Minister assume a suspiciously dangerous meaning given their timing.  Uganda is just weeks away from the next election that is expected to be disputed owing to the long standing concerns over the independence of the Electoral Commission and its…calculated decision to allow voting without identification in the coming general election”.

She also accused the discredited Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission of showing what she called “…total partiality by deliberately failing to address electoral malpractices of the ruling party” that she says the IPC has brought to the EC’s attention.

Some of the electoral malpractices, M/s Wokuri said, were, but not limited to,  “…denial of access to media outlets, government vehicles being used to campaign for NRM candidates, police vehicles being used to ferry youths who remove or deface opposition campaign posters etc”.

M/s Wokuri added that, “…as we prepare for an already flawed election, Odongo’s remarks are tantamount to intimidation of voters and they also put the army in disrepute.  The army should be seen to be completely neutral in a multiparty democracy.  A professional army should not put itself in a situation where it becomes part of a political conflict”.

The IPC lady also urged the UPDF to learn from its Kenyan counterpart that remained firmly neutral and did not make any pronouncements before, during, and after the end of the post election violence that rocked Kenya at the end of 2007.  “…We call upon the UPDF to call Odongo to order or declare its support for the remarks he made so that Ugandans can know what to expect from the army during the forthcoming election”, M/s Wokuri ended.

UPDF Spokesman

In his opinion article titled “UPDF despises Besigye’s political bankruptcy” that was published in the Observer newspaper of 2^nd January, UPDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Felix Kulaigye also declared that the UPDF will “…not remain neutral when blatant lies are told by those in the know to those that don’t know”.

His declaration however drew angry reactions from Ugandans as our story “Ugandans despise Kulaigye’s Besigye attack” published last week shows.  Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.