Members found guilty of orchestrating chaos and violence in the just concluded National Resistance Movement party primaries for Members of Parliament face expulsion from the party, Secretary-General, Kasule Lumumba has said.
The ruling NRM party used lining up behind candidates for the first time since being adopted by the party’s top organs early this year but the primaries held on Friday to elect the party’s parliamentary flagbearers were characterized by several incidents of chaos and violence.
On a number of occasions, several people were killed whereas others were injured during the process.
Addressing journalists on Sunday, the deputy party Secretary-General, Richard Todwong who was representing the Secretary-General said investigations into the violence are ongoing and reports will be released about the same.
As Secretary-General, I am on record for having condemned these acts of violence that have been meted out on our membership and I will hasten to add that all these vices, were precipitated by some of the candidates themselves working with their agents and supporters. Any candidate found guilty of having involved directly or through their agents in the violence will be punished in accordance with the party constitution ranging from reprimand, suspension or dismissal from the party,”she said.
The NRM Secretary-General explained that the ongoing investigations will guide the party on the administrative measures to be taken on candidates who could have directly participated in the acts of violence.
In some areas, members were beaten and injured as rival supporters clashed, whereas in other areas, a number of people were shot and injured by security agencies during scuffles on the polling day.
The deputy party Secretary-General insisted that action ought to be taken to members found culpable of the violence so as to teach a lesson to others that such acts have no place in the country’s politics.
“We can’t become an organization that condones cheats and perpetrators of violence. We are going to weed these characters out of the party,” Todwong said.
“I call on security organs and the administrators of the justice system to ensure that all the culprits are not only made to answer for these crimes; but that they must be stopped from future electoral processes because their actions border on impunity and go against the strategic principles of the National Resistance Movement.”
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