Police and sister security agencies have beefed up the deployment in Serere district ahead of the Thursday polls.

The Police spokesperson for east Kyoga region, Oscar Ageca told the press that atleast 1,000 officers were on ground by last evening. He maintains that the deployment is aimed at ensuring law and order as Serere locals cast their polls.

However the opposition Alliance for National Transformation party president Rtd. Gen. Mugisha Muntu believes the deployment is aimed at enabling the vote rigging and intimidation of opposition supporters as witnessed in all past by-elections.

Gen. Muntu warns that if security forces do not uphold their code of conduct that prohibits them from involving in partisan politics then the country is headed for a crisis. He urged members of the armed forces to respect the rights of civilians and stop brutalizing them.

The Serere County by-election slated for Thursday have attracted 5 participants from different political formations. The main contest is between ANT’s Alice Alaso and NRM’s Philip Oucor. The others are FDC’s Emmanuel Eratu, independent candidate Emmanuel Omoding (son to late MP Okabe) and Martin Onguruco who is also an independent candidate.