President Museveni Advises Party Primaries Losers Not To Stand as Independents

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni made the call to all National Resistance Movement (NRM) Members of Parliament who lost in the recent concluded party primaries not to stand as independents in the forthcoming elections during a heated meeting at Arua State Lodge. The President, in the company of the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni made the remarks this week during a meeting with NRM Members of Parliament and Independent MPs who had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NRM at State Lodge Arua. The team that participated in the party primaries and lost. Now the majority of them declared to stand as independents in the forthcoming elections while some opted to stay out of the elections. President Museveni reminded the aggrieved MPs that in the last election, in Buganda, over 21 seats were lost because the NRM won but the votes were divided by the party candidates; the independents and the flagbearers. According to the President, in their case, these particular MPs were provoked by selfish people but advised that what is crucial is how they react to the provocation. Some MPs who lost in the party primaries claimed that they were cheated during the primaries, explaining that their competitors altered the results and by the end of the day, they were irregularly declared winners. The President further advised that in case some candidate feels that he was cheated during the primaries, he/she can use that law, that's if they have evidence. “If it was an electoral offense, why don't you get me the facts, if they altered the results, then we can act criminally against the people who were involved, and they end up in prison. There’s a legal way you can go about it and crime has no time limit, even a year and more, the one who did it can be acted upon. For me I think that one is better,” he noted. “In case you don't have proof because your agents were compromised, it means there’s some political work you need to do and I would advise that in that case you give yourself time. This issue of using mercenaries to be your agents is very risky. You should have people who are committed to your vision in your area.”