Singer Ssemanda Manisul alias King Saha over the weekend snubbed the Uganda Musicians Association(UMA) presidential debate ,citing a number of reasons including unfairness from the organisers among others.
The debate took place at the Next Media Conference Centre and was covered live on NBS TV.
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There are three aspirants vying for the president of UMA including Lord Bitem, a self-proclaimed legend, King Saha and singer Cindy Sanyu, the incumbent.
Some people said that one of the reasons that could have made Saha was his inability to eloquently debate in English although the platform gave the contestants the right to use any language of their comfort.
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But the singer said the scheduled date for the live debate could not favour him because he had already been booked on different shows. He also claimed that he wasn't informed in time about the debate.
A couple of days ago, the singer filed a formal complaint to the UMA electoral Commission challenging the process that have been undertaken for the forthcoming election especially the plan by UMA to conduct the elections online.
"Take notice that our client is discontented and aggrieved by the manner in which the whole process is being handled which has tainted the said exercise," read a notice filed by Saha's legal team.
Although, UMA electoral committee appointed May 23 2022 as the date for conducting elections, Saha noted that the association failed to avail him with the voters' register.
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"You have failed to display the voters' register for scrutiny, update and verification by all stakeholders and the general public. There are no reasons, whatsoever, for conducting the elections online and as such, our Client objects to online voting," he said through his legal team.
However, UMA electoral committee said it had decided to postpone the election from May 23 to Monday June 6 2022 due to complaints from some members, and in accordance with the powers vested in the Committee
"The Electoral Committee has taken a decision to extend the election, which was scheduled to close on Monday 23rd May 2022, for fourteen (14) more days, that is, from Monday 23rd May to Monday 6th June 2022, after which, there will be no further extension. The new election date is thus 6th June 2022," the statement read in parts.
According to Geoffrey Ekongot, the chairman of the electoral committee, UMA policy board offered guidance on the decision and recommended that the members need more time to understand how the voting is going to be conducted.
