Civil society organisations (CSOs) have been denied access to their accounts as the Ugandan Presidential election comes closer.
The United States government in a statement raised concerns over the problems in the country citing restrictions on CSOs, delayed accreditation of local election observers and interference with none-partisan voter education as some of the actions of the incumbent.
“Today we remain particularly concerned over how Ugandan institutions continue to block the bank accounts of several reputable and well-known CSOs, on questionable bases, preventing their important work on voter education, domestic election observation, public dialogues, and tracking and preventing election-related violence. These are globally accepted non-partisan elections activities funded by the U.S., the European Union, and other international partners who are merely supporting the Ugandan people in living up to their own constitutionally mandated election standards.
“The continued blocking of these accounts has significantly limited the ability of these CSOs to contribute to the conduct of free, fair, and peaceful elections in Uganda, a goal that the United States shares with the Ugandan people. Civil society plays a key role in the electoral process, and every effort should be made to facilitate its work, ” the US government said.
Incumbent President, Yoweri Museveni will be facing 34-year old music star and MP, Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine in the Presidential election scheduled to hold on the 14th of January.
Leading to the election, Bobi Wine and his supporters have been arrested and re-arrested with the actions of the current government already sparking concerns from the international community.