IS NATIONAL UNITY POSSIBLE IN UGANDA?

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/commentary/is-national-unity-possible-in-uganda--3383080

In the past weeks, the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the National Unity Party (NUP) respectively held leaders’ forum meetings in preparation for the next parliament to plan strategies for service in the next August House. All this is happening amidst extreme regime brutality, arbitrary arrests, an increase in political prisoners and deaths with little accountability from the government and with overwhelming inadequacies in the justice system to administer justice.

The Ugandan political landscape is experiencing spasms of upheaval and conflict that usually presage a major political repositioning. This is occurring in a period when our economy is in recovery, taxation is at an all-time high, unemployment and social injustice are extremely increasing. We risk living through the tremors and darkness of the 1970s.   

In an era of grave polarization, national unity sounds like a far-fetched dream. While disagreement is the bloodline for democracy, today the divide seems untameable particularly because people are no longer considering facts in our politics.

Uganda is facing one of its gravest moments in the history of Museveni’s 35-year rule. Uganda’s democracy is crumbling, socio-economic justice is under interrogation and faith in institutions is at an all-time low. Partisan warfare has replaced evidence-based problem solving and lawlessness in the regime that is reinforcing political differences. 

 The Ugandan political system clearly is failing to address obvious problems, on numerous issues, we are failing even to have a civil conversation.  This is widening the partisan gulf, not just within government, but also in our broader society.  In our Republic, effective governance requires some level of cooperation and yet the answer for many voters to these deficiencies has been to support candidates who exemplify partisanship, confrontation, and political coarseness.  We are at risk of attempting to solve our problems by doubling down on their main cause.

As Ugandans, we need to foster diversity of opinion in order for us to come together and forge a way forward in our steps to build Uganda. We need to embrace how we can live with our deepest differences. We equally need to find ways for rationality to take a stand alongside passion and ambition in reaching public decisions. 

There needs to be a strong civic duty in pushing for collective unity, enshrined in the preamble of our constitution, that “We the people, recalling our history which has been characterised by political and constitutional instability; Recognising our struggles against the forces of tyranny, oppression and exploitation; Committed to building a better future by establishing a socio-economic and political order through a popular and durable national Constitution based on the principles of unity, peace, equality, democracy, freedom, social justice and progress”.— In this, the onus to take Uganda forward sits on our collective drive as a people willing to compromise and move forward.

Uganda thrives or fails in direct proportion to the extent we live in our collective call to protect, honour and uphold the constitution of the Republic. To achieve unity, we must understand the roots of our disunity, we have segregated ourselves into tribes and cocoons of political belonging and we have nurtured seeds of disunity, sectarianism and patronage. We are constantly entering into the deadly competition and zero-sum politics. Ugandans need a government that works regardless of where they lie on the spectrum, a government where institutions function to deliver what people need.

The fundamental place we can begin to build our national unity is to start seeing our focal and central point of concern as Uganda. We need to work towards a shared vision of the Uganda we want and score agency towards a reconciliation process. Democracy requires compromise, we need to have a national dialogue and mediation across the divide to ease the tensions that are choking the spaces of political engagement and governance.

We are at crossroads and we are caught between turning our political divide and disunity into a moment that will redeem our democracy or we risk turning into a fully-fledged radical autocracy with expanded disunity. We need to come to a unifying vision for our nation. Without a focused vision of working towards national unity, we are bound to lose our Country. 

BEYOND 2021 POLLS: PREPARING FOR A DISPUTED ELECTION

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/commentary/beyond-2021-polls-preparing-for-disputed-election-2732916

As Uganda winds up the two-day presidential nominations for the 2021 general elections, the realities of legitimacy and democracy continue to highlight the crippling electoral cycle of Uganda. The key concerns of the electorate continue to create doubt in the validity of the ballot. For the electorate, the question at the forefront is, “Can we trust that Uganda will have free and fair elections in 2021?” 

The complexity of this year’s electoral landscape—from pandemic-related social distancing and the unprecedented scientific campaigns likely means that some of the presidential campaign’s biggest drama will play out in the hours and days after election Day.

Elections in a democracy should be about free and fair elections with a possibility of change of leaders and one leader conceding to another. There’s a growing realization that the complexity of next year’s electoral landscape is being framed by the events that were witnessed in the presidential nominations violence and the outright human rights violations.

Learning from the discontent around the disputed elections of 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016, and how the courts of law failed to deliver a satisfactory verdict with the provided evidence, it is clear that Uganda should be ready to face the realization that if the results of this election are disputed, it won’t be a legal battle that determines the outcome. It will be a contest of political will and power. Pleading with courts and ruling government officials to do the right thing is akin to continuing to believe that the tenements of civility and decorum in democracy still apply in Uganda, 35 years later.

The goal to uphold democracy is to create public guarantees―from elected officials, police and military―that will help to protect the integrity and results of the 2021 elections. Election protection is a non-partisan issue focused on upholding the constitution, and protecting widely-shared values of an accountable government and democratic freedoms.

The media, civil society and the electorate should be focused on protecting the integrity of the elections. With so much at stake, concerns of violence, voter intimidation, arbitrary arrests and the fragility of the voting process continue to front the need for civic consciousness. Democracies are fragile and democracy can fail and what people do or don’t do can determine the direction of Uganda for the next five years. Beyond voting, democracy depends on individuals and institutions that value the integrity of the process as much the final results. Therefore, the credibility of the electoral process will bank on a collective resolve to reduce the risk of political polarization among the electorate because the fundamental demands are deeper than partisan politics.

We need to rethink and reimagine our electoral cycle from the management of candidates to the handling of the disputes that arise from the elections. The nominations of candidates have greatly shaped the narrative for the coming campaign season and how the violence witnessed, presents a grim environment for the months ahead.

The Electoral Commission and security agencies can improve the perceptions of the credibility of the election by improving public confidence in the behaviour of their officials, in the handling of the nominated candidates and moderation of the rhetoric from the media. This can also reduce the risk of election-related violence, because as perceived fairness and credibility of the election increases, the potential for people to engage in violence and dismissal of the election results may decrease.

Against this back drop, the electorate need to prepare for a disputed election and the exigency that will follow such a reality. The possibility of protests, violence and insurgency all threaten the foundations of the democratic system because so much is founded on the general election.

In an unprecedented election season highlighted by the global pandemic, scientific campaigns and low voter education, the onus falls on all the stakeholders to protect the credibility of the elections. Public confidence in the electoral process is on the litmus paper in proving whether there is integrity of the ballot in providing Uganda with its next leadership.

Tricia Gloria Nabaye

Research Resident Associate: GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES

THE ELECTIVE POLITICS OF GERRYMANDERING

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/commentary/the-elective-politics-of-gerrymandering-2458554

With the mandate vested in Article 63(1) of the constitution of Uganda, parliament approved 46 new constituencies comprised of 45 counties, Nakawa divided to make Nakawa west constituency and 10 district were given city status ahead of the 2021 general elections. This brings the number of constituencies to 353. The approval of the constituencies came after the Electoral commissions road map roll out for the 2021 general elections and before the youth and special groups elections.

Amidst contention from the opposition, the August house approved the creation of more constituencies. It should be highlighted that the process of creating new constituencies before the general elections has become characteristic of the political life of Uganda. In 2015, ahead of the 2016 general elections, Hon. Adolf Mwesigye, the then Minister of local government passed a motion for the creation of 39 counties which was ultimately approved and passed by parliament on the 20^th August 2015. With no accountability of service delivery and feasibility from the previous constituencies created, one wonders if it is plausible to have another 46 constituencies approved.

It begs the questions, are the new constituencies geared towards service delivery or are they a clear case of gerrymandering? Which if not stopped will continue to minimise the already struggling pillars of democratic processes in the election cycle of Uganda.

Gerrymandering fosters party power manipulations of the elections and the electorate and it should be stopped. Many Ugandans look at a constituency and district or city status as equal to a service provided. It is reasoned that with the over decentralisation comes ease of access to service delivery but the reverse is true, continued decentralisation makes service delivery hard and many resources are lost catering for administrative cost.

Additionally, given the recent economic shocks experienced during the COVID-19 outbreak that have left many people financially constrained, creation of new constituencies promises a burden on the tax payers in the long run. Consequently, one wonders if the creation of new constituencies is viable, if not to influence the 2021 general elections.

Gerrymandering promises party loyalists and sycophants a chance at representation and an increase in the numbers in parliament for the ruling party. The created constituencies will be a campaign point for many political aspirants in the ruling party and as such, even those who lost at the primaries will have a chance to run as independents in the coming elections.

The challenges gerrymandering poses lie in the legitimacy of the ballot. The majority of the electorate have been disenfranchised with the separation of constituencies and the creation of new polling grounds. This disempowers their votes; in other words, they are up against a stolen vote because their vote will be rendered useless in that case. The subdivision of the constituencies amounts to theft engaged in by the ruling party and this undermines the key principles of free and fair elections utmost the rule of democracy.

It is imperative to note, that the real politics of the land happens in the heat of the electoral cycle long before the ballot is cast because then the ruling party restructures its battle ground and creates a map that will foster more representatives in parliament than those of the opposition. As a result, single party control of redistribution of constituencies fosters partisan unfairness more than any other variable. It is a strong highpoint of rigging the system for one’s benefit.

The rationale of creating constituencies should have a standard format and it should have a systematic flow to it. It is imperative to note that in gerrymandering we falter the jurisdiction provided for the Electoral Commission to exercise its mandate to create constituencies.

Gerrymandering not only accentuates the ever growing political polarization among the political parties in Uganda but also creates a greater divided among the electorate in the communities. The electorate need to create a homogenous voice in regard to the needs and baseline requirements needed in their politicians. In the absence of the national consensus and a national agenda on what the citizenry desire from the restructuring of constituencies, politicians will continue to use gerrymandering as mechanism for divide and rule.

Redistricting should shift from the hands of the legislators into the hands of non-partisan commissions that can help restructure the constituencies, with a common goal of service delivery and resource mobilisation. Only then can the electorate have their say in how and when the redistricting can take place.

Conclusively, in our effort to preserve democracy and to have free and fair elections in Uganda, we need to be conscious of every attempt and ploy that is employed to disempower the electorate in their choice of leaders. For that reason, it is important to have any form of new legislation and policy order that directly affects the general elections happen at the beginning of a new electoral term rather than close to the general election.

 

TRICIA GLORIA NABAYE

RESIDENT RESEARCH ASSOCIATE: GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES

 

Of redemptive love

 

There you were...

Not even trying to shine but shining you did

There you were...

Immaculate in every way 

Upbeat to make the world a better place even if it was for one more person...

There you were... 

Making me come alive to the redemption that lay in your heart...

Your calm undertones of speech made me feel safe...

I was seen in ways I had forgotten how

Your laid back self made my impatient self learn to love the Selah...

For I was sure that you were here to redeem this heart...

And there ever so subtle...libra in every way 

You strung a new charm into my heart...

In your being was a future I was willing to pursue 

Your hand...I was willing to hold for a lifetime 

And then some...

You... redeem me