BOBI WINE

The height of cowardice and impunity! Two days to the General Election, the criminal regime has shut down several leading Civil Society Organisations including Chapter Four Uganda, Alliance for Election Finance Monitoring (ACFIM), Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-U), National NGO Forum, and the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders. The list is apparently much longer. The targeted organisations are those that have been loud against human rights violations or preparing to monitor the elections! ACFIM, which tracks spending in elections, is targeted because in the last election, its report exposed how Museveni used hundreds of billions of taxpayers' money to rent support and eventually steal the election. Now, he has done worse. Even the organisation that has been vocal in protecting the rights of journalists who are regularly brutalised is being shut down. This, as a leading Civil Society leader, Dr. Sarah Bireete is in detention for simply speaking out and educating the masses. Like it was in the last election, NGOs are targeted because the criminal regime accuses them of supporting us - which they call 'activities prejudicial to security'. And yet, in reality, their real crime is refusing to sanitize Museveni’s brutal, corrupt, inept regime of blood and shame. As we stand in solidarity with them, we strongly condemn these cowardly actions in the strongest terms possible. Uganda deserves a strong civil society that will do its work without intimidation. We can put an end to this madness in two days by strongly protesting at the ballot box and collectively rejecting any attempt to usurp the popular will of the people. #FreeUgandaNow