{UAH} Ssemogerere warns opposition on joint candidate for 2016 poll - National - monitor.co.ug
|
5:24 AM |
No comments |
Ssemogerere warns opposition on joint candidate for 2016 poll - National
(L-R) Opposition party leaders: Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, Olara Otunnu, Norbert Mao and former FDC president Kizza Besigye at the FDC party Headquarters in Kampala recently. PHOTO BY DOMINIC BUKENYA.
In Summary
Advice. Former DP leader Paul Ssemogerere says Opposition must think carefully before attempting to field a joint candidate against President Museveni
Veteran politician and former Democratic Party (DP) leader Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere has warned the Opposition to think carefully before attempting to field joint candidates in the 2016 general elections against President Museveni and his NRM party.
"These alliances and coalitions, structurally, are harder to negotiate and to operate when you have a single constituency electoral system – this winner-takes–all. It is very complicated," he told Sunday Monitor in an interview on Wednesday.
He said multiparty democracy caters for coalition/alliance among willing member parties and that he welcomed efforts in this direction by various parties and that it was important that the intending member parties in a coalition/alliance have a common principle objective(s).
He went on to say that coalitions work better after the elections when you are faced with a situation where you have what they call a hung Parliament – like it was in Britain's last election – where each party fields candidates and when none of the parties gets a majority, they then start to negotiate coalitions after.
"It is not easy to work out an arrangement to govern the process of agreeing on candidates. It is difficult enough to agree on a joint presidential candidate, but to agree all the way down as I have read in the papers is much more difficult," he said.
In the 1996 presidential election, Dr Ssemogerere contested against President Museveni as the joint Opposition candidate under the banner of Inter-Political Forces Cooperation (IPFC). He garnered 22.3 per cent of the votes against Mr Museveni's 75.5 per cent and third candidate Mr Muhammad Kibirige's 2.2 per cent. This was the first general election since the disputed 1980 elections that returned Mr Milton Obote to power for the second time.
Referring to the circumstances under which he ran as a joint Opposition candidate, Dr Ssemogerere said: "In our case in 1996 (under the IPFC) we did not go that far to say which candidates we would field in different constituencies. It is very difficult."
Dr Ssemogerere added: "It is easier now during by-elections but in a national general election, it is very difficult. I wish they succeed but it is very difficult, for instance, for DP members to be told that we have decided that a UPC candidate will run in this constituency. It is difficult enough to agree on candidates within one party. It requires a lot of work."
He dismissed recent remarks by embattled Gen David Sejusa that the army officer drove him in his car as the former DP boss went to announce his candidature in 1996.
However, Dr Ssemogerere revealed that Gen Sejusa supported his candidature against Museveni in 1996. He said Sejusa even came to his home with then third deputy Prime Minister Abu Mayanja to encourage him to challenge President Museveni.
On President Museveni's repeated talk that Uganda's problem was ideological disorientation, he said: "I have heard him say so and I think that is abuse of office. A President cannot insult people like that.
Who defines ideological disorientation? Why does he think that everyone must think like him? When we went for the Nairobi peace talks in 1985, which Museveni disregarded and continued fighting even after he had signed the Nairobi Peace Accord, he said that he would not negotiate with murderers.
Which murderers was he referring to? On the Okellos' side were people like Robert Kitariko, Sam Kutesa and myself. Were we murderers? Now he happily attended the reburial of [Gen Bazillio]Okello's remains. That is ideological clarity (laughter)."
Corrections to Sept 28, 2014 interview with Ssemogerere
• We stated that he was in the company of some other DP members when he met President Museveni at Nabbingo shortly after the NRA captured Kampala. Ssemogerere has since clarified that he was alone when he met Museveni.
• On the 1984 Colloquim in Kampala, hosted by the DP, Ssemogerere has clarified that contrary to what we stated that the foreign dignitaries who attended were headed by the Italian prime minister at the time, the leader of delegation was Mario Rumor, then president of the Christian Democrats International, who had previously been prime minister of Italy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment