Usually during any electoral process whether voting or a rally, it is the politicians and the mass that are affected by the brutality of the security forces especially if any kind of chaos is witnessed. This happens in most countries and Uganda is not an exception.
However with the Kawempe north by-election that happened today, 13/03/2025, things took a turn because security forces seemed to be against the press.
Kawempe north by-election happened after the death of the former member of parliament of that constituency, Hon Segirinya Muhammad. The race had ten candidates that expressed their interest in the post and appeared on the ballot paper namely
You might want to read this Did We Fail Ssegirinya, or Did Politics Swallow Him Whole?
Henry Stanley Maitu (independent), Moses Nsereko (independent), Muhammad Lusswa Luwemba (independent),Muhammad Mutazindwa(independent), Hanifah Karadi (independent), Ismail Musitwa (PPP), Henry Kasacca(DP), Sadat Mukiibi aka Aganaga (FDC), Faridah Nambi (NRM) and Erias Luyimbazi Nalukoola (NUP)
These candidates together with the registered voters of the area were to begin the election by 10:00 am but some polling stations started a bit late.
Some people were also disturbed by the fact that their names had been put in different polling stations from where they had been voting before. This resulted into some not voting while others reported to the polling stations late.
The heavy deployed security also scared off some voters.
The atmosphere in Kawempe remained normal till after the candidate Hanifa finished to cast her vote, and heavy security was deployed in the area.
The security teams beat up news anchors and some were arrested for a short while till when they were released at kawempe police station later on the evening hours of the day.
Normally security would excuse the press if they had tags and jackets well indicated but the case was different today because security was seen targeting only news anchors like they were terrorists.
Hasifah Nanvuma, a journalist of spark TV says she was beaten but she managed to run away.
On realizing what was going on with in the voting area, heads of media houses advised their journalists to stop all the work and go back to their workplaces to seek safety as the search for the missing journalists continued. These however were all dropped off at kawempe police station.
The votes were taken to a tally center at Makerere University where tallying started with Nalukoola and Hanifah being in the tight race for the post. Security at the tally center was not as scary as the security that was seen at the polling stations during day.
Journalists have also released a caution not to work with any security forces until issues have been resolved.
” The Media Association has announced an immediate blackout on security coverage. Effective immediately, no media outlet will cover activities related to security organs, including the Police, UPDF, and others.”
The electoral committee has confirmed the winner of the election to be Erias Luyimbazi Nalukoola from the NUP political party where the late Segirinya also belonged.
However the big question is after what has been evidenced in the by-election of kawempe north, what should we expect in the coming general elections (2026).
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