By Derrick Omoding
Over 50 Civil Society Organizations across the Teso Sub – Region on Friday converged in Eneku Village Soroti City to streamline the joint agenda on fighting political injustices and human rights violation ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Activists urge the government to call off brutality and violation of those in opposition as the new clouds of politics gather.
The move has come barely eight months after the launch of the election road map by the electoral commission.
Benson Ekuwe the Executive Director PAC- Uganda said that a call for democratic practices and the rule of law remains key.
“The main concern encompasses the projected cases of violation characterized by the drastically beating of civilians, commercialization of the electoral process and humiliation of opposition politicians especially by those in force,” he said.
Adding,”we hope that this will amplify our call for reforms before the country enters into another wave of trouble, we do not want to witness again very silly scenarios in the previous elections in Ngora county elections, The Soroti East bye – election that were characterized by vote rigging, caressing of voters using arms and brutalizing of candidates and their supporter.”
According to some participants, Democracy will be meaningless if the ruling government and electoral commission do not provide a leveled ground for both political parties.
Mr. Santos Labejja, a senior activist in the region stressed the worrying concern over the notion that political violence remains a major threat, according to him, the government needs to enact comprehensive constitutional, legal and political reforms if the country is to progress in its democratic trajectory.
“After almost two and half decades under the current constitutional framework 1995-2021, the promise of a new political, economic, and social governance dispensation has been considerably frustrated by distortions in our electoral process.” he said.
However, the Uganda Human Rights Commission to a certain extent agrees with a move in a bid to curb the human rights violation especially during the election period where violence and brutality are witnessed.
Josephine Akello the Eastern Regional Manager said that the commission has always recorded growing statistics of violation during election period.
Miss. Akello urges the public to report cases of such to ensure that Justice prevails on time.
In recent years, the operating context for Civil Society Organizations in Uganda has undergone significant changes and drastically changed, these encompass shifts in funding trends, evolving dynamics within the civic space, entrance of political actors and business entities into the space and emerging challenges in the pursuit of social justice, good governance and development.