At least 65 people have expressed interested and picked presidential nominations forms to contest in next year’s general elections according to the Electoral Commission.
However, on Thursday the EC turned away another presidential hopeful, Gideon Turyamureeba, a 33-year-old from Kanungu district in western Uganda. Turyamureeba turned up at EC offices along Jinja road to pick presidential nominations forms like the 65 others before but was denied the opportunity after he failed to answer questions about his profession, which raised suspicion about his level of education.
Electoral Commission spokesperson Paul Bukenya says all aspirants are subjected to some basic questions before they are issued with the nominations because they don’t want to give the forms just to anyone. He said those who fail to answer the questions are turned away.
“We ask some basic questions before we give out nomination forms. You know these are forms that are printed, they are in bulk and they bear our stamps, they bear our logo, you don’t anyone and everyone to just come and pick. We have issued to 65 persons so far and you don’t want to just issue them without subjecting the person applying for them to just some basic questions. So if you’re not able to answer just basic questions, then I think you’re not ready to contest for that elective position.” said Bukenya.However, Turyamureeba couldn’t have any of this, accusing the Electoral Commission of corruption, saying he has the prerequisite educational qualifications to stand for the presidency.
According to the 2021 presidential nomination guidelines, a person is not qualified for election as president unless that person has completed a minimum formal education of advanced level standard or its equivalent.
Bukenya says that if one lacks a certificate for the advanced level of education they are expected to present their certificates to the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) for verification whether they have an equivalent.
