Ban election thieves for 10 years - Judges

Protest. Voters in Kyebando, Wakiso District destroy election materials in protest of the election outcome last year. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI

What you need to know:

  • Recommendation. The judges want a law put in place to block candidates to whom illegal practices are attributed from contesting in an election re-run for a period of 10 years.

KAMPALA.

A three-member panel of Court of Appeal judges hearing parliamentary election petitions has asked Parliament to amend the electoral laws to bar any person convicted for electoral offence from contesting for at least a decade.

Justices Remmy Kasule, Elizabeth Musoke and Catherine Bamugemereire said a prohibition clause, such as in Section 46 of the Anti-Corruption Act 2009, that prevents convicted officials from government jobs for 10 years, is necessary so that individuals whose election is nullified do not contest in the by-elections.

The justices made the recommendation in their ruling last week that nullified, on appeal, the election of MPs William Wilson Nokrach and Hood Katuramu representing Persons with Disabilities in Northern and Western Uganda respectively.

“Before we take leave of this appeal,” the judges noted in a unanimous decision, “we would like to recommend to Parliament that a law be passed or a section included in the respective election laws which precludes a person who is found to have committed illegal acts during an election from standing for office for at least two terms or ten years like it is in [the] Anti-Corruption Act.”

They found Nokrach and Katuramu guilty of bribery for doling out cash in exchange for votes and also decided that Nokrach lacked the requisite academic qualifications. The Electoral Commission is yet to fix a date for holding fresh elections for the affected parliamentary seats.

“As it is now, the law does not prevent any of the parties against whom illegal practices are imputed in an election petition judgment from contesting in an election re-run,” the justices further observed.

MPs Rehema Watongola and Moses Walyomu, whom the Court of Appeal ejected from the current Parliament for electoral malpractice, have both bounced back after winning the by-elections.

In Kyaddondo East constituency, Forum for Democratic Change’s Apollo Kantinti has thrown his hat in the ring for the race to reclaim the seat he lost after court nullified his election for electoral malpractices.

MP Jacob Oboth Oboth (Independent, West Budama North), who chairs Parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, yesterday welcomed the judges’ recommendation as “timely”.

“That’s a welcome ruling [because] we have been struggling with elections malpractices; Parliament will now come up with changes to the law because this is not a strange jurisprudence,” he said.

The judges’ recommendation was incidental to the matter before them and, as such, advisory until the government, or a Member of Parliament privately, introduces a Bill to effect the proposed amendment to the electoral laws.

Justice minister Gen Kahinda Otafire, whose ministry originates most government Bills, said he had just returned from a trip out of the country and would need to read the full judgment before determining the next course of action.

Officials of Electoral Commission were unavailable yesterday.
A change to the legislation required, said MP Oboth Oboth, to rid the country of politicians that have “bribed and committed forgery, but you find them on the ballot paper. We need a water-tight form of legislation”.

In their verdict last week, the judges found Nokrach and Katuramu guilty of bribery under section 68 of the Parliamentary Elections Act.

They directed the court Registrar to prepare a written report and forward a copy of the judgment to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The intention is for the DPP to take appropriate action against the two former MPs and their agents, including a one David Mutungi, for having participated in acts of bribery during the election process.

Mr Chris Obore, the Director of Communications at Parliament, said such a proposal has to be formally tabled before the House in form of a Bill for deliberations and final determinations. “Such a Bill is then debated. If the majority buy into it, then it becomes law and if the majority reject it, then it collapses,” Mr Obore said, “Amendment to any law is a whole legislative process that starts with drafting of the proposed amendment.”

Parliament urged
Welcoming the move, Coordinator of Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda Crispin Kaheru urged Parliament to expedite implementation of the court’s recommendation.
“This is certainly a positive development and Parliament should move with great speed to implement the recommendation of the Court of Appeal,” he said.

Mr Kaheru, however, warned that the recommended legislation will have a positive and negative side and could be used to unfairly witch-hunt opponents.

“Such a law will bar convicted criminals from holding public office and might also serve as a deterrent to would-be public officials from engaging in electoral malpractices,” he said, “However, if such a law is not crafted or interpreted carefully, it could be used as a witch-hunt of opponents using trumped up charges thereby excluding unfairly potential political competitors from competing in future elections.”