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Mbazazi, who was sacked
as PM last September, set to challenge 30-year rule of strongman Museveni in
2016 elections
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Uganda’s former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has declared his
intention to run for president in the early 2016 election.
Issuing a statement on
Monday, Mbazazi said Ugandans want “not simply a change in leadership but a
change of systems, a change in order”.
He is seen as a strong
contender against President Yoweri Museveni, who has been ruling since 1986.
World
Bulletin / News Desk report continues:
Uganda is set to elect
its president, parliament and local administrations next year in a
comprehensive ballot expected to come in March.
Mbazazi’s announcement
prompted police and other security agencies to deploy heavily at his home.
Museveni is known to keep his political rivals under tight security watch.
The two figures, both
founders of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) headed by Museveni,
have been political allies for decades before Mbazazi was fired as prime
minister in September 2014 in a single-man cabinet reshuffle by Museveni.
Mbazazi says he seeks to
restore the ruling NRM and “return to its roots” as a “genuine, accountable and
democratic movement”.
In his remarks regarding
his election platform, Mbabazi said Monday there was a need to focus on
“critical ideas”.
They included reviving
Uganda's democracy and institutions, transforming the economy and attracting
heavy local and foreign investment, promoting equitable development “where all
communities and all regions of the country equally benefit from decisions made
by the government”, he said.
He added that there was a
need to provide jobs that are fit for the 21st century and ensure a greater
level of accountability on the part of leaders and making a stronger effort at
fighting corruption at all levels.
Source: World Bulletin / News Desk
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