Uganda has postponed general elections due to COVID-19.
The article, published on March 15, 2020, says that the president made the announcement to postpone the polls during a press conference at State House because of the coronavirus outbreak., However, there is no such announcement on the president’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and it also does not show up on the website. No such directive has been posted on the State House website, Twitter and Facebook pages either., When contacted by PesaCheck, President Museveni’s senior press secretary, Don Wanyama, stated that the claim was false., While President Museveni addressed the nation on 30 March on the state of preparations against the disease, he did not mention the election date or any changes to the electoral calendar., On March 12, 2020, Abey Mgugu petitioned the High court, seeking to declare a state of health emergency in the country and halt all elections until 2026, but no decision had been made on this petition by the time this article was published., The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, on April 2, 2020 told members of the House that she and Chief Justice Bart Katureebe had asked President Museveni to declare a state of emergency. Uganda’s constitution gives the president the powers to make such a declaration, which could potentially include changing the date of the election., However, the announcement had not yet been made at the time of publishing this fact-check, and the Electoral Commission had not made any statement on the schedule of the 2021 general election., PesaCheck has looked into an article claiming that President Yoweri Museveni has postponed next year’s presidential election to 2023 due to the coronavirus pandemic and finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Pius Enywaru and edited by PesaCheck News Editor Enock Nyariki., The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
HOAX: Uganda’s 2021 general election has not been postponed to 2023 over COVID-19 fears