Ragga Dee urges musicians to remain calm following the suspension of the UMA polls

Daniel Kazibwe alias Ragga Dee, a legendary Ugandan singer and the Chairman of the National Cultural Forum, has advised fellow artists to maintain order. (Ragga Dee urges musicians to remain calm following the suspension of the UMA polls)

This comes after the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development emphasized on Monday its directive to postpone the Uganda Musicians Associations’ (UMA) elections, which was passed last week.

The’steamy’ UMA polls were scheduled for Tuesday, June 28, 2022, according to the body’s Electoral Commission Committee last month, after Presidential aspirant King Saha complained about the voting process being opaque.

Mr. Geoffrey Ekongot, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, stated that candidates needed more time to understand the process.

However, the National Cultural Forum (NCF) later tainted the UMA electorate’s completed voting process of a secret ballot at a single polling station, National Theatre, without taking other regional artists into account.

As a result, on June 23, 2022, a meeting was held between the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, the UMA Policy Board, and the NCF, and it was decided that the polls be postponed until further notice.

The Ministry requested that its earlier decision be upheld in a letter released on Monday, June 27, 2022.

Ragga Dee asked musicians to be professional and mature enough during such a time in an interview with a local TV station.

Ragga Dee believes that the Ministry’s intervention will result in the musicians’ association’s support.

“I humbly request that artists stop acting like grasshoppers trapped in a bottle waiting to be eaten.” “If the Ministry has intervened, it is here to support us as the Uganda Musicians Association,” Ragga Dee explained.

He also discussed how dangerous it would be if UMA election polling stations were only set up in the Central, leaving the rest of Uganda out.

“If you dare to hold elections in Central only artists will never see the elected president as their president.” “Who elected this president?” they’ll wonder. Ragga Dee chimed in. (Ragga Dee urges musicians to remain calm following the suspension of the UMA polls – Ugandan politics