Stop Commercialising Elections, M7 tells MPs

By Serestino Tusingwire

President Yoweri Museveni has warned politicians against using money and telling lies while campaigning in search of votes.

The president who was addressing the NRM parliamentary caucus on Wednesday night said such bad practices paint a bad image of the election which could discourage Ugandans from voting.

“You should not allow any ‘pollution’ in this power, pollution ‘money, lies and corruption. Because if you allow being polluted, elections will lose meaning,” Museveni said.

“Election must be proper and credible, if u pollute them, it will be a problem for you,” he added.

However, the President’s critics have accused him of being at the forefront of monetizing elections.

They accuse him of bribing NRM members during the election of parliamentary speaker and deputy speaker in May 2016.

Museveni allegedly gave each MP Shs10m to vote Jacob Oulanyah

“That is not corruption, that is helping them to cope with the problems of the society,” Museveni said on that issue.

It’s worth noting that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Museveni issued over Shs2m to each and every village in the country disguising it as for ‘Operation wealth creation’.

This was however seen by opposition candidates as a way of bribing voters across the country to vote him during an election which he indeed won.