Allow me to compare our country Uganda with some developed countries such as the United States of America where searching for leaders is a long term process.
Unlike in Uganda where President Museveni is always fighting the opposition whenever they engage in political rallies, it takes approximately 2 years to vet a leader of impeccable reputation both from the party and at the national level.
In Uganda, our Electoral Commission is very rigid to the extent of not allowing consultative meetings by would be political leaders. This means that there is never enough time to groom suitable leaders for this country.
The time given of three months for candidates to prove themselves is not enough for the people to assess their would be leaders and many therefore find themselves at a dead end when their candidates prove to be a jokers in the middle of the campaigns. And this at times force voters to vote looks rather than ability.
Just this week, the presidential debate exposed some candidates as not up to the mark. Take Joseph Mabirizi for instance, many people ended up saying that the man must have picked the ‘wrong forms’ because he failed to articulate any issues while attending the debate.
My sincere request is therefore to always give Ugandans enough time to assess and analyze politicians of good caliber so that people who need to vote issues can be able to sieve their desired candidates.
