MPs call for postponement of 2016 polls

NRM deputy treasurer Kenneth Omona (L) and deputy secretary general Richard Todwong appearing before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Commitee yesterday. PHOTO BY FAISWAL KASIRYE

What you need to know:

The request. MPs suggest that the ruling NRM party considers pushing the elections until the poll reform proposals are discussed fully

PARLIAMENT.

Lawmakers handling the proposed constitutional amendments yesterday asked government to consider postponing the 2016 elections to allow wider reforms before the country goes to polls.

The suggestion, which would require changes to key provisions in the current electoral law and the Constitution through a drawn-out process, sparked off mixed reviews.

Mr Stephen Tashobya (NRM, Kajara), chair of the House Legal Committee, asked the Deputy Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance Movement, Mr Richard Todwong, to consult his seniors on the possibility of delaying the polls.

“Instead of handling amendments piecemeal, maybe we should take our time, even if it needs extending the life of Parliament so that there is ample time to consider the views from all the stakeholders,” Mr Tashobya said, reflecting the views of his committee on the matter.

In support of their chairperson, committee members across the political spectrum told Mr Todwong to return at an appropriate time with the official party position on the proposal to delay the 2016 polls.

However, Mr Todwong, who was in the committee to present the NRM position on the proposed reforms, reacted with consternation.

“It [extending elections] will never happen because democracy is a process. Amendment to the Constitution is an on-going process; it’s not a one-stop-centre. The committee should understand that we cannot amend the entire Constitution at once. We don’t agree with what the committee is proposing and if MPs are not ready I am sorry for them. As NRM, we are ready,” Mr Todwong said.

He maintained that “the proposed reforms in the government Bill are limited and are based on the timeframe the country has to move into the national elections of 2016. He said in due course, other proposals for consideration will be handled as “we keep shaping the democratic destiny of our country.”

In this Bill, the government has proposed to call the electoral body, the ‘Independent Electoral Commission’ but retained the President’s control over appointment of its officers, a position which goes to the heart of Opposition criticism.

Why now?
Former leader of the Forum for Democratic Change party, Dr Kizza Besigye; acting Democratic Party leader Mathias Nsubuga, and Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, among other Opposition leaders, had last week called for suspension of the 2016 elections.

Mr Lukwago, who described the Tashobya committee as a quasi-Constitutional Review Commission, noted that what the government has so far suggested are “empty and insufficient reforms”.

The leaders also accused the government of ignoring the views of Ugandans on the proposed constitutional amendments and repeated the demand that an independent Electoral Commission be set up. They also said presidential term limits must be restored, among others.

When reached for comment yesterday, Dr Besigye said: “That (postponing the 2016 polls) would be a prudent decision provided that the NRM junta is not extended. It is the one that has bungled the political process for the last 30 years. There would have to be special provisions for managing a transition process.”

But the minister for the Presidency, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, and NRM caucus vice chairperson Peter Ogwang said postponing elections is not only unconstitutional but weird.

“I find their whole rhetoric laughable and only just a way of covering up their weak political ground. Ugandans can’t wait to elect their leaders as periodically as they have been doing,” Mr Tumwebaze said.

Other views
Mr Peter Walubiri, a constitutional lawyer, said switching dates for elections can only be “considered in context of a compromise position of all stakeholders derived from a lengthy debate.” “We may agree to set up a transitional government to mediate the period in question the government-proposed reforms are laughable but if a government of national unity is put in place, extending the elections and the term of Parliament will be part of the negotiated deal,” he said.

The law

In Article 61(2), it is provided that the Electoral Commission shall hold presidential, general parliamentary and local government elections within the first 30 days of the last 90 days before the expiration of the term of the President.

However, Article 103 of the Constitution also sets out that where a normal presidential election cannot be held as a result of the existence of a state of war or a state of emergency, the election shall be held within such period as Parliament may, on the recommendation of the EC, by resolution determine, or within 60 days after the end of the state of war or the end of the state of emergency.