Eala contest: About money or love for East Africa?

Ms Sarah Kagingo was contesting for the second time. Unlike the first time, she was confident she was headed to Arusha, Tanzania, this time round.
Then the number of contestants grew from a handful to 40; and the money came in, and at the height of the NRM political machinations and when voters failed to agree during the NRM party caucus, fists had to be employed.
“There’s so much money exchanging hands. I do not know if I will manage. I might even drop out. I can’t raise Shs1m for each MP as other candidates are doing,” she said when Sunday Monitor met her for an interview at a fruit shop on De Winton road, a stone’s throw from Parliament, where intense campaigning was happening with candidates pinning up posters and haranguing possible voters.
“I want to use the East African parliament platform to unite East Africans towards balancing trade. We Ugandans need to stop being net importers to especially Kenya. We have to benefit from each other as people of one region,” she said, sucking sugarless juice through a straw. She got 84 votes. She couldn’t make it.
Unlike the previous elections, this one has attracted an unprecedented number of interested people—48 contestants; 38 independent, six NRM, two FDC, one DP and one UPC.
The similarity is that they have both had their own share of controversies.
The last one was about long serving members trying to bend rules to ensure they stay serving even when the law was clear that no one serves beyond two terms. This year, it’s about excessive use of money and ring-fencing positions in some parties.

But what explains the surge in interest?
President Museveni, while opening an NRM caucus session to pave way for the party to choose its six candidates, warned against contestants taking the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) simply as a bureau for employment.
“These elections are not just elections; these are not employment bureaus; you are not here to give jobs to jobless people, you are here to select people to support the integration of East Africa,” he cautioned the voters—an assembly of NRM Members of Parliament.
Political watchers, however, say those who contest for Eala see it as exactly that—an employment bureau. The reason they are willing to rent support, buy votes and even fight in caucus.
“The stakes are very high. Many politicians don’t have jobs after losing elections because in Uganda, politics is seen as a job. In other countries, it is a vocation where someone comes to serve and they go,” opined Mr Sabiti Makara of Makerere University’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
Could this thirst for a job also lie in the belief that there’s less scrutiny and accountability to the “voters” once you cross to Arusha?
“Once you have bought your way in, you have no constituents to pressurise you,” Mr Makara said. “It is also a reflection of the politics of the country. It is a winner takes it all, and takes it permanently, and for a long time mentality. The free and fair election doctrine is no longer an issue it is one who has money who wins.”
Or could the fight to join the regional House lie in the fact that it’s actually lucrative in terms of remuneration?
The East African Legislative Assembly is the highest paid parliament in the region, only next to Nigeria on the continent.
According to the 2013/2014 Eala budget, an MP takes home $14,908 (Shs53.3m) in pay, perks. This is more than double what Uganda’s national parliamentarian earns.
While an MP in Uganda earns Shs50,000 per sitting, an Eala MP gets $400 (Shs1.4m). Eala members sit 12 days in a month, giving them a $4,800 (Shs17m) monthly bounty in allowances—it can reach $8,500 (Shs30m) if one attends committee work when plenary is off.
Apart from the official Arusha allowances, the legislators are also, in line with Eala regulations, given facilitation allowances by their states of origin for activities such as sensitising citizens on EAC matters.
Add the allowances to the basic salary of $6,408 (Shs22m) and it starts to be clear why someone can be willing to put a spirited fight to go to Eala.
“People no longer go to Eala to give a service,” said researcher and political analyst, Dr Frederick Kisekka-Ntale. “When people are used to political representation, they want to be in that space forever. And it also has to do with money.”
The downside of a money minded approach to going to Arusha is that it deviates the country from the core values of the integration.
“Eala is supposed to be an elite club of thinkers and so a country must take its best representative but we no longer put interest in that and, therefore, people decide to chance with the regional parliament through the use of money,” Dr Kisekka-Ntale said.
He further opined, “Eala is supposed to deal with regional policy and also discussing how to compete with other blocs, but it has now been reduced to a host of political failures and novices yet it is supposed to be an elite club of thinkers.”
As the interview went on that Monday afternoon, Ms Kagingo kept checking her watch and saying she had to go pick her posters to distribute. In intermittent pauses, she would ask if she should just drop out because she couldn’t match the money her rivals had put in.
“How I wish all of us were really after working for our countries. I want to organise Uganda internally and build value chains for productions and position the private sector to add value to products like coffee so that we can compete in the region,” she said, but she lost.
The final vote will be on February 28, picking nine people from the currently 48 contestants who have expressed interest at the Office of the Clerk to Parliament.

What NRM winners said

“Today the process was fair. The system was well arranged and everyone is satisfied with the results, so all the laws were taken care of. We are still going to pursue integration and ultimately political federation,”
Rose Akol Okullu

“I am very happy to be an NRM flag bearer now following voting and confirmation. I am happy because I have served this country as MP for 15 years. I will widen the opportunities for Uganda so that we benefit from the regional market,”
Mathias Kasamba

“I want to thank members of the NRM caucus for voting me as one of their Eala flag bearers. It has been a tough fight but I thank the MPs for the confidence they have shown in me. We shall fight to remove bottlenecks on trade, reduce border hindrances and also fast track the monetary union,”
Denis Namara

“I am genuinely interested in pan-Africanism. I would like us to expand our markets. We need to move to the monetary union and mostly political federation. In the years to come I look to our security, survival and prosperity,”
Mary Mugyenyi

“It was a demonstration of appreciation for my loyalty to the party, hard work and consistency because this is my third attempt to run for Eala. It confirms that they appreciate my passion and ideas for East Africa. We are going in with new ideas and approaches,”
Paul Musamali

“I have not been so much engaged in the politics but I am glad that the NRM caucus found value in my ideas. We must integrate out of poverty because while we have expanded the market to 170 million people, we should know that those people are merely potentials,”
George Odongo

Profiles of party nominees

George Odongo, NRM
Odongo, 43, the former Resident District Commissioner for Lira District holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree from Makerere University. He acquired a Master of Arts in International Trade Policy from the Uganda Martyrs University and a certificate in Strategic Studies from Montreax University in Switzerland. He went to St Peter’s College Tororo for his secondary education.

Paul Musamali, NRM
The 45-year-old former principle assistant secretary in the Government Chief Whip’s office holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Makerere University. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in Public Administration and Management from the Uganda Management Institute.

Denis Namara, NRM
The 33-year-old former Youth League chairperson of the National Resistance Movement holds a Bachelor of Laws from Makerere University and a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the Law Development Centre. Namara went to Kabalega Secondary School and St Henry’s College Kitovu.

Rose Akol Okullu, NRM
Ms Akol, 52, served as minister of Internal Affairs at the end of the 9th Parliament where she represented Bukedea District. An accountant by profession, she holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Makerere University Business School.

Mary Mugyenyi, NRM
Mary Mugenyi served as minister of State for Animal Husbandry and was Member of Parliament for Nyabushozi County from 2001 to 2011, before losing to Col Fred Mwesigye.

Chris Opoka Okumu, UPC
Opoka is one of Uganda’s incumbent representatives seeking re-election to the regional Parliament. A member of the Akena faction of the Uganda Peoples Congress, the lawyer by profession presided over a heated Eala session that endorsed a motion for the removal of then speaker Margaret Zziwa.

Fred Mukasa Mbidde, DP
Mbidde is the vice president of the Democratic Party and incumbent representative to the regional body. He pursued a Bachelor’s of Mass Communication and later Laws from Makerere University, where he served as guild president. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the Law Development Centre.

Florence Ibi Ekwau, FDC
Florence Ibi Ekwau was the woman representative of Kaberamaido to the 8th and 9th parliaments. A teacher by profession, the 39-year-old sat on the Natural Resources and Public Account committees of Parliament. She was also shadow minister of Land and Physical Infrastructure.

Ingrid Turinawe, FDC
The FDC political activist currently serves as the party’s secretary for mobilisation. She lost her bid for the Rukungiri Municipality Member of Parliament at the primaries. She is popular for run-ins with security forces during demonstrations.