Africa-Press – Uganda. ELECTION WATCH 2021 |Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has petitioned the court seeking to have the ban on campaigns in the city quashed.Last week, Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama banned campaigns in several districts, including Kampala in a move he said was meant to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.Byabakama advised politicians in the said places to resort to social media and other mass media for their campaigns, which Lukwago contends is illegal.The directive also affected several presidential candidates, including incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, who was supposed to be in Mukono district yesterday but did not campaign due to the directive.COVID-19 casesBy yesterday, Uganda had registered 33, 811 cases with 248 deaths.Health experts say the country is in stage four of the pandemic, which is deadly and requires stringent measures to overcome it.In a suit lodged at the Civil Division of the High Court yesterday, Lukwago argued that the guidelines are not only illegal but unconstitutional. The EC is listed as the respondent in the matter.”If you have a pandemic and there is latitude to bring in mechanisms in place that infringes on civil liberty, you have to invoke Article 110 which provides for a declaration of state of emergency which is not the mandate of Byabakama and hence a nullity,” Lukwago explained.What Lukwago says Lukwago said the said directives amount to an attack on the sanctity of the Constitution under Article 29 and wants court to declare them null and void.”You cannot purport to say that you have suspended the campaigns because of the pandemic yet business is going on as usual and the city is full to capacity, places of worship are open; why then do not you allow people to campaign? Is COVID-19 only restricted to political activities and is it only they that spread COVID-19?” Lukwago asked.He added that Byabakama is not vested with powers to ban the campaigns, noting that his mandate is restricted to supervision of the electoral process. “I challenge you (Byabakama) to show us under what law you issued the impugned guidelines,” Lukwago said.In his petition, Lukwago wondered how the Police will enforce the guidelines which he purports were issued in a press statement.”There is no way such a decision suspending campaigns can be made at a press conference. This can only be done through a legal instrument or an act of Parliament,” Lukwago said. “We are not saying that the pandemic does not exist, we are also scared for our own lives. However, that does not give anyone latitude to infringe on our rights and movements,” he added.Lukwago maintains that if there was need to control freedom of assembly on account of prevailing situation, the Government should have declared a state of emergency in the country as provided for under Article 110 of the Constitution.Since the court is in recess, Lukwago has also applied for a certificate of emergency for his case to be heard expeditiously.The civil division deputy registrar, Jamson Karemani is yet to allow the matter for hearing.According to his programme, Lukwago was left with 21 meetings to complete his re-election campaigns.
