.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
KAMPALA. Credible information, from this media outlet's sources within the security establishment, indicates that in September 2020 and again in October 2020 President Yoweri Museveni directed the Attorney General, William Byaruhanga to stop attempts by some Western embassies in the country from infiltrating and compromising the Electoral Commission (EC).
Intelligence services had received information that the scheme involved channeling funds, software, and so-called 'technical officers' to the EC via the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The vehicle for this infiltration was designated Strengthening Electoral Processes Uganda (SEPU). The scheme involved getting the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MFPED) to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UNDP to operationalize SEPU.
Indeed, the MoU was signed earlier this year without receiving the obligatory 'No objection' letter from the Attorney General's office.
It is at this point that security services got involved, investigated the secret plan and reported the matter to the President.
President Museveni then called the Attorney General and directed him to legally stop the plot.
In a letter seen by the Kampala Post, the Attorney General directed MFPED that in the execution of its mandate '...all care must be taken to ensure that...both the letter and spirit of article 62 of the Constitution which enjoins the Commission to be independent and not to be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority, in its performance of its functions...' be upheld.
As a consequence of this inability by the EC to show that SEPU would not compromise its independence and autonomy, the Attorney General was unable to provide clearance for the MOU.
"Intelligence and security services continue to be vigilant in accordance with their mandates to ensure that the will of the people of Uganda is genuinely reflected in the forthcoming elections," a source told this website.
