KAMPALA.
Officials from the Electoral Commission (EC) Monday evening revealed that the registration of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) pressure group into a political party has not been completed as claimed by its promoters.
The Commission spokesperson, Mr Julius Mucunguzi, told Daily Monitor newspaper , Uganda’s independent daily that there is still an ongoing verification of the signatures from a few districts that were submitted by the promoters of the prospective political party.
“What I have established is that there are a few districts that are pending the final verification, and once those have been verified, then the next step will be the gazetting of the application,” he said in a telephone with Daily Monitor .
EC was moved to comment after officials from the PFF told reporters yesterday that the process of registering their political party was done, only awaiting the EC gazette and to issue the certificate of registration.
The head of the steering committee of the promoters of the PFF, Mr Phillip Wafula Oguttu, said the EC informed them that they had finalised the process of registering them as a political party and that they would be gazetted this week.
Mr Oguttu urged the members to be hopeful of the new party and dedicate themselves to elective positions as well as recruit new members. The interim president of PFF, Mr Erias Lukwago, also reaffirmed that the group had finalised the process of registering as a political party.
Mr Lukwago urged the members not to be misinformed about the process, as they are in the final stages of getting a registration certificate. He emphasised that he had been informed by the EC Chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, that what was pending was an internal process and hopefully would be in the gazette this week “If PFF is a plane, we are on the runway, and once you are on the runway, no turning back, the only thing you have to do is to take off,” Mr Lukwago said.
But Mr Mucunguzi said: “I can confirm that when the application is complete, the next step in the law is publishing the application in the Gazette, and this has to take place within 30 days upon receiving a complete application.” The PFF, which seeks to be registered as a political party, was birthed by the breakaway faction of the embattled Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
The members, including the currently detained Dr Kizza Besigye, broke away from FDC after they accused the party president, Mr Patrick Amuriat, and the secretary general, Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi, of reportedly bringing dirty money from President Museveni to the party during the 2021 General Election, an allegation the duo has since denied. The group convened a National Delegates’ Conference in Kampala in August last year, where they resolved to dissolve FDC and form a new political party through which they would defeat Mr Museveni.
The process of registering a new political party, which seems easy, has, however, taken longer than expected, which the EC blamed on the gaps that were identified in the first batch of signatures that promoters of PFF submitted to the EC. Mr Lukwago yesterday warned the members against fighting one another for political positions. “There could be multiple candidates, because we are in election season. Don’t fight one another. Go back and check yourselves,” Mr Lukwago emphasised.
The group stated that it would continue to run a defiant campaign as launched by Dr Besigye.