Election is key element in democracy

  In a press conference before the election day,  Security minister Elly Tumwine warned everyone that  whoever was planning to engage in chaos, the police, the army and other security agencies would be ready to deal with them.

  On the other hand, the Inspector General of Police,  Mr Martins Okoth-Ochola, also issued a similar warning to Ugandans.

Nevertheless, these warnings didn’t seem to have scared the determined young people, who really wanted to see change. But what frustrated the young most was the shutting down of the Internet by the government.

 Many of them believed that the shutting down of the Internet was meant to facilitate the rigging election. 

To them, this contradicted Article 1 of the Constitution, which states that  ‘All power belongs to the people who shall exercise their sovereignty in accordance with the Constitution.’  

That is, people shall express their will and consent on who shall govern them and how they should be governed through regular, free and fair elections of their representatives. 

Election is a key element in a democratic processes. It provides peaceful change of government and distribution of power and resources in a country.

Hilda Nsimiire,
[email protected]