Double Standards: Minister Kamuntu meets campaign agents in church, holds rally

Despite ban on public gatherings, including political campaign rallies and church meetings, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof Ephraim Kamuntu has met his agents in a church and later held a rally.

Both President Yoweri Museveni, who appointed Minister Kamuntu, and the Electoral Commission (EC), which the professor oversees, banned political meetings.

But Kamuntu met his campaign agents and later addressed people in a playground.

In his address to the people gathered in a pitch, observing no social distance and wearing no face masks, Kamuntu told the people government would not extend the elections.

He observed that while previous governments had failed to hold regular elections, electoral democracy was a hallmark of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).

Prof Kamuntu seeks to retain the Sheema South seat. An MP since 2001, he is facing competition from former area MP Prof Elijah Dickens Mushemeza, Eng Yorokamu Bategana Katwiremu and Nickson Tugume.

OPPOSITION BLAST KAMUNTU FOR HOLDING RALLY, CHURCH MEETING

Main opposition political party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) wondered whether “the laws passed are only effective on opposition leaders and candidates while those in government are free to hold campaign mega rallies.”

On July 16, police arrested Kira Municipality MP and FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda for a second time in a space of one week for holding a political meeting.

Yet days earlier, health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng had held a procession unperturbed. Ssemujju had called for Aceng’s resignation.

But Aceng insisted she had done nothing wrong, only saying she had learnt a political lesson.

Besides FDC, Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) also criticized Kamuntu’s actions, terming them “an irony.”

ANT wondered why “political meetings are held in places of worship but people are not allowed to congregate to pray.”

Recently, NRM secretary general Kasule Lumumba called on security agencies to punish party leaders flouting Covid19 guidelines. Nobody is above the law, she said.