A former Supreme Court Justice has strongly criticised the opposition Inter-Party Alliance’s push for electoral reforms, saying the opposition should instead focus on ensuring that the existing electoral laws are enforced.
Addressing the Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform workshop at Hotel Africana on Tuesday, Justice George Wilson Kanyeihamba said: “The IPA are complaining that they want electoral reforms, but previous court rulings don’t say that our laws are defective, but that they are infringed upon and not implemented to the letter,” he said, citing corruption where he says Uganda has good laws on graft that only await implementation.
“Africa is the birthplace of many brilliant ideas (laws) but it is also the biggest graveyard for many of them,” he lamented.
The IPA, a loose coalition of five opposition political parties UPC, CP, FDC, JEEMA and SDP has been calling for changes in the electoral laws relating to presidential, parliamentary and local government elections.
Government has tabled some reforms that are currently being scrutinized by Parliament’s legal committee.
Under the theme, ‘Restoring Public Interest and Confidence in the Electoral Process in Uganda: The place of Citizen Action’, the workshop aimed at putting citizens at the forefront of shaping a democratic and accountable political system in Uganda.
Kanyeihamba also revealed a new system of rigging in Uganda by the ruling NRM, hitherto unknown in Ugandan politics. “I have evidence that the NRM buys off agents of opposition parties like DP, FDC and UPC during elections to endorse fraud election results.”
This, Kanyeihamba says, is used by government to give election results legitimacy arguing that the outcome was endorsed by opposition agents.
DARES KIGGUNDU
He says EC Chairman Eng. Badru Kiggundu’s assurances that he would organise free and fair elections are discredited by previous court rulings that accused EC of various electoral irregularities.
“The Supreme Court ruling about the 2006 elections and many court rulings since the 1996 elections, show that our elections haven’t been fair, electoral laws have been violated, there was vote stuffing, disenfranchising of many voters.”
He added: “If I were the chairman of the Electoral commission and the Supreme Court found all those irregularities under my care, I would resign.”
Kanyeihamba likened elections to a football game, saying that if the referee is biased, then the results can’t be fair and acceptable to all the competing teams.
Quoting press reports, he said EC is comprised of NRM cadres, “some were ministers in this government, others are candidates in elections; so, government rewarded them by putting them in EC,” he said.
Drawing from his past membership in NRM and his critical and independent judgments when he was appointed judge, he said a government minister approached him and accused him of ruling against the NRM.
“I told him that when I was appointed to the bench, I ceased being an NRM cadre and this is showed in my judgments.”
He challenged EC commissioners to emulate him. “I challenge him [Kiggundu] to denounce NRM and let that show in their actions,” he said.
Kanyeihamba was appointed judge in 1997. Before that, he had served under the Museveni government as a Senior Presidential Advisor, Attorney General and CA delegate.
Talking about the 2011 elections, a survey by FENNA BUMU Uganda, a civil society organisation, has found that about 65% opposition registered supporters are likely to boycott next year’s general elections because of the perception that the election would be rigged.
The study also found that 35% of NRM registered supporters may not vote. Presenting the survey results, Swaib Mukungu, the Executive Director FENNA BUMU Uganda blamed people’s apathy on the opposition.
He said they are exaggerating instances of electoral malpractices and are making statements “that seem to imply anarchy and are scaring away voters from the ballot box.” Most of the recent by-elections have registered a low voter turnup.
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disbanding Kiggundu's EC is part of the reforms written by Stephen Kakooza , March 11, 2010
Some people behave as if they are not part of the future that will blame us for having allowed dictatorship to shrine for a third time after Obote and Amin.
What IPC is doing does not stop others to do more. we are all responsible for a better future of Uganda regardsless of age and occupation.
Many MPs who are being used now including their speaker,Hon. SSekandi may not find their way back in Parliament through the same fraud means they are promoting and that is where Africa has a problem.
People only cry fowl when the bad political traps they lay get them on a wrong foot like it has just happened to Rwanda's Gen. and former army comander.
Mr written by kabayekka , March 11, 2010
What the former honourable judge is trying to say is that since all electoral laws are well placed in Uganda for a Unitary central government to keep winning elections and running this country
the State of Buganda in seeking its federal status as prescribed in the 1962 constitution is a dead end project politically and legally dumped in the graveyard.
Re we need change in Uganda written by Ddungu Musa Evans , March 12, 2010
It is unfortunate that Musaeveni and his colleagues are still enforcing them selves to Ugandans, we are really tired of the regime and they have to go either by votes or by force, we all know that these people NRM are arranging to rig elections and we are ready to prevent it or react accordingly. Ugandans have suffered enough under NRM ‘s regime
Justice Kanyeihamba reveals NRM’s ‘rigging’ tricks
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