The national publicity secretary of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) and also the Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda has revealed that they have given Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama’s Independent Electoral Commission this week only to declare their political pressure group a fully registered political party.
“We have done everything including being patient with Justice Byabakama but we have realised that he wants to use political tricks to fail our plan of contesting in the coming elections as a political party. So we are going to resurrect our defiance against them. They have only this week,” Ssemujju said.
He explained that they are tired of receiving responses from the electoral commission of how they are still verifying the names and documents they presented to them supporting their efforts to establish their own political party after their bitter divorce from Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
He said that at first, they were told that the owners of the names they brought to the electoral commission denied signing their documents claiming that their signatures and particulars were forged which forced them to look for other people to sign for them.
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Ssemujju admitted that some of the people who signed for them are president Museveni and NRM supporters who told them while collecting signatures that they support Museveni because of money and jobs.
“After realizing that even Museveni supporters signed for us, they used government operatives from different parts of the country to approach them and issue threats to them. They were threatened with being slapped with criminal charges similar to those that Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obed Lutale are battling with including plotting to use guns to overthrow the government. They got scared and disowned us,” Ssemujju said.
He revealed that what they are planning to do is to go in those areas where the electoral commission claims that they don’t have people supporting PFF, load them on buses and bring them to the electoral commission offices with all their documents so that they fill forms in the presence of Justice Byabakama and other officials as witnesses to the processes.
He added that their supporters are scared that they are not going to contest in the coming elections because of the delay orchestrated by the electoral commission.
He divulged that many of their supporters are now pondering crossing to other political parties or declaring to contest as independents, a move which is going to cost them badly.
However, Julius Mucunguzi the electoral commission chairperson insisted that they will not be forced to issue a certificate to PFF without following due diligence required as explained to Ssemujju and other leaders.
In a related development, this investigative website has established that PFF finalised plans to front Dr Besigye to contest as their presidential candidate in the coming 2026 presidential elections.
“Don’t be surprised when you see Dr Besigye on the presidential ballot paper come 2026,” Dr Besigye’s political assistant Robert Mayanja said.
A PFF Insider disclosed that at first, PFF was planning to use Kampala Lord Mayor Ssalongo Erias Lukwago as their presidential candidate but they later established that he is not as popular as Dr Besigye nationwide.
He added that they are also planning on how to nominate Besigye in prison especially if the High Court Criminal Division again declines to release him on the court bail as it was done recently by Justice Fortune Khania.
If Besigye is nominated while in prison to contest against president Museveni, it is not going to be the first time for this to happen because in 2006, he was nominated while in prison after he was slapped with criminal charges related to treason and rape.
When asked for a comment, Ssemujju said that Dr Besigye stopped believing in elections as a method to overthrow president Museveni’s government.
He added that in 2021, they tried to convince him when they were still in FDC to contest for presidency on FDC ticket but he declined the offer.
Besigye have unsuccessfully contested against President Museveni four times.
After those failed attempts, he declared that he is going to use activism to overthrow Museveni.
However, with the recent development, if he changes his mind, he will have to faceoff with opposition strongman Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) the National Unity Platform (NUP) who has already declare that he is going to contest in the coming presidential elections.
