Ugandans vote yes or no to multi-party politics

KAMPALA – Ugandans began voting in a referendum yesterday on whether to return to multi-party politics after nearly two decades as a one-party state under President Yoweri Museveni.

In what some view as a ploy by Museveni to appease an increasingly impatient international community, the government of the east Africa nation is pushing for a “yes” vote lifting restrictions on parties. “I am choosing ‘yes’ because that is what the president has asked us to do.We love Museveni and we need him so much,” said Robert Muhwezi, a motorbike taxi rider waiting for voting to start in Bukoto, a suburb of the capital.The polls got underway slowly, with several Kampala polling stations opening more than an hour late because of delays delivering voting materials.”I have gone for multi-party because it is time to move on.Our country has been in limbo for too long,” said Ian Mukasa, another voter, after placing his folded ballot in a black metal box sealed with yellow plastic ties.Some opposition groups are boycotting the referendum, saying Museveni only wants to mollify donors concerned after parliament voted to scrap term limits that barred him from standing for re-election next year.They say it is a human right to join political parties.Donors who fund about half of Uganda’s budget at a cost of more than US$850 million a year agree it is time to return to multi-party politics and some have withheld aid over concerns about democracy.Ugandan police said all steps had been taken to ensure the referendum was conducted peacefully.Museveni effectively banned parties when he seized power in 1986, replacing them with his “no-party” National Resistance Movement (NRM).All Ugandans are notionally members and candidates for local office are supposed to be selected on merit, not party affiliation.Museveni says parties gave birth to the brutal dictatorships of the 1960s and 1970s – including under the late Idi Amin – but that the country is now developed enough to open up to political competition.He has called for a “yes” vote, arguing it will let him banish critics he says are undermining the NRM from within and stop opponents painting Uganda as a dictatorship.- Nampa-Reuters”I am choosing ‘yes’ because that is what the president has asked us to do.We love Museveni and we need him so much,” said Robert Muhwezi, a motorbike taxi rider waiting for voting to start in Bukoto, a suburb of the capital.The polls got underway slowly, with several Kampala polling stations opening more than an hour late because of delays delivering voting materials.”I have gone for multi-party because it is time to move on.Our country has been in limbo for too long,” said Ian Mukasa, another voter, after placing his folded ballot in a black metal box sealed with yellow plastic ties.Some opposition groups are boycotting the referendum, saying Museveni only wants to mollify donors concerned after parliament voted to scrap term limits that barred him from standing for re-election next year.They say it is a human right to join political parties.Donors who fund about half of Uganda’s budget at a cost of more than US$850 million a year agree it is time to return to multi-party politics and some have withheld aid over concerns about democracy.Ugandan police said all steps had been taken to ensure the referendum was conducted peacefully.Museveni effectively banned parties when he seized power in 1986, replacing them with his “no-party” National Resistance Movement (NRM).All Ugandans are notionally members and candidates for local office are supposed to be selected on merit, not party affiliation.Museveni says parties gave birth to the brutal dictatorships of the 1960s and 1970s – including under the late Idi Amin – but that the country is now developed enough to open up to political competition.He has called for a “yes” vote, arguing it will let him banish critics he says are undermining the NRM from within and stop opponents painting Uganda as a dictatorship.- Nampa-Reuters