By Edrine Benesa
We Can no longer afford to ignore President Museveni’s vote-rigging complaints against Bobi Wine. On his own confession, a recently pardoned ex-convict admitted to playing a pole role in the manipulation of the 2021 presidential election results in favour of opposition candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, aka, Bobi Wine, very much to the detriment of the eventual winner, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
The mindblowing confession was made by Muhydin Sanya, one of the 19 recipients of a presidential pardon after they were convicted of crimes including terrorism. Sanya, formerly a close associate of the opposition outfit, NUP, claimed that he ticked over two million votes in favour of Bobi Wine, the leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP).
Sanya’s statement adds more credibility to claims by General Museveni that there was massive rigging by the opposition at the last polls. “I ticked over 2 million votes in favour of Bobi Wine,” Sanya asserted.
The statement comes against the backdrop of President Yoweri Museveni’s persistent allegations that the NUP rigged the 2021 election. by manipulating over a million votes. Sanya puts the figure at double Museveni’s estimation.
Although there is a stark contrast between the figures of Sanya and that of the President, that there was rigging as the latter alleges is now less contestable. Focus should now focus towards patching the gaps to ensure no such occurrences recur, with a little over one year into the next elections.
The bigger picture is that President Museveni was declared winner with 58.64% against Bobi Wine’s 35.08%. This means that had the latter succeeded in staffing a million votes more, the consequence would have been dire. He would have probably been able to force a rerun, throwing the country into an inconvenience we could have averted through stricter vigilance. In another angle, someone else would have rigged other than Bobi Wine, which would have plunged the power holder into more jeopardy.
What Needs to be Done?
Even though we eventually emerged winners, this can only be attributed to the mass support of the NRM that even with that degree of rigging, its popularity remained insurmountable. With the expert job done by our efficient intelligence structures, the need to plug the gaps can never be more necessary.
Having managed to pull that vote heist on their very first attempt at the Presidency, NUP has surely come up with a strange strategy. Aware that they possibly came close to taking it, only God and themselves know what they are strategizing for 2021. With the good, people-centred 2021-2026 manifesto, it’s nearly obvious that President Museveni’s popularity will shoot through the roof.
What will this benefit to do is more of concentrating on vote protection than vote hunting?.
The writer is the Deputy Resident City Commissioner for Nakawa Division, Kampala City.
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