By Timothy Nsubuga

1^st Nov 2010

MP Mike Hancock

The British government has expressed serious concerns over the uneven political playing field in Uganda’s February 2011 general elections.

Responding to a question about “…the prospect of free, fair and peaceful elections in Uganda” tabled in the British parliament [The House of Commons] by Mr. Mike Hancock, the Liberal Democrat party MP for Portsmouth South last week, Britain’s Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham said:

“…we do retain concerns about the evenness of the playing field between Government and Opposition, and challenges to freedom of expression and assembly.  We will continue to raise the importance of free, fair and peaceful elections with the Ugandan authorities and Uganda’s political leaders. I did so myself with President Museveni and Professor Ogenga Latigo when I visited Uganda in July”, Mr. Bellingham said.

In his reply, Mr. Bellingham also raised serious doubts about the impartiality of both the controversial Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission and the Police Force.  “…It will be particularly important to the prospects for free, fair and peaceful elections in 2011 that Uganda’s Electoral Commission and the Ugandan police force demonstrate their independence and competence during the campaign period and in the organisation of the polls”, the Foreign Office Minister said.

In particular, Mr. Bellingham said, “…we have also raised the importance of the police balancing its responsibility to maintain order with its duty to act as an independent body that respects the freedoms of expression and assembly”.

Mr. Bellingham also revealed that the British government has “…raised concerns directly with the head of Uganda’s police and the Ugandan government” over the assault on FDC party President and IPC presidential flag bearer Dr. Kizza Besigye on the 9^th June 2010.

On that day, the infamous stick wielding “Kiboko Squad” militia linked to the Uganda Police descended upon and beat up Dr. Besigye and his supporters as they attempted to hold a rally in Kampala to denounce the Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission.

Apart from matters that directly impinge on Uganda’s preparedness for free, fair, and peaceful elections in 2011, MP Mike Hancock also raised specific concerns about freedom of expression as a whole within the context of the government’s recent confiscation of Dr. Olive Kobusingye’s book The Correct Line?, Uganda under Museveni.

In his reply, Mr. Bellingham said that while he is encouraged by the recent abolition of the crime of sedition by the Constitutional Court of Uganda, he was however still “…concerned by reports of restrictions on freedom of expression including the impounding of a shipment of Dr Kobusingye’s book”.

He also took issue with Internal Affairs Minister Kirunda Kivejinja’s contradictory statements to parliament about the reason the government confiscated Dr. Kobusingye’s book.

He said Kivejinja’s statement to parliament on 19^th October in which he said the book had been impounded because of irregularities in the shipping documentation “…contradicted an earlier statement in which he suggested that the shipment had been impounded for security reasons”. END.  Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.