Test leaders for drugs before polls - Cabinet

Kampala. Cabinet on Monday resolved to introduce a new law requiring all political leaders to undergo a mandatory drugs test before nomination for political office.
The draft amendment to electoral laws requires political candidates from Local Council to President to take urine/blood tests for illegal drugs as a condition for appearing on the ballot.

In a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Museveni, ministers argued that the new proposed mandatory drug-test law could deter unlawful drug users from becoming candidates and assuming public offices.
The proposal comes at a time when Cabinet is already discussing the harms and benefits of growing marijuana for medical purposes. In 2015, Parliament enacted The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act that allows cultivation, production and exportation of marijuana for medical purposes.

Sources told Daily Monitor that the push for compulsory drug-test for political leaders came as ministers were discussing the Attorney General’s Cabinet paper on illegal public demonstrations and meetings.
In his interpretation of Articles 29, 43 and 44 of the Constitution, the Attorney General, Mr William Byaruhanga, justified police/ security crackdown on Opposition demonstrations particularly where protesters allegedly infringe on the rights of other people.

Mr Byaruhanga told Cabinet that under Articles 43 and 44 of the Constitution, government determines the circumstances under which constitutional rights may be limited. He also stated that government is mandated to protect the rights of all citizens and that the enjoyment of constitutional rights shall not prejudice the rights of other or the public interest.

Attorney General’s remarks
Cabinet sources said the Attorney General made it clear in the meeting that Opposition leaders and their supporters or any other people who would want to demonstrate, may not enjoy the right to demonstrate if such enjoyment is not in the public interest or where it infringes on rights of others.
In his submission on the matter, the President proposed that those who want to demonstrate peacefully and unarmed should only do so during public holidays or in isolated venues but not anywhere near schools, markets, hospitals, public roads and religious institutions.

The President without naming any individuals also told Cabinet that he will not allow people who want to destroy the country. He also wondered why some politicians he didn’t name would go out of the country and discourage investors and tourists from coming to Uganda.
“When Anglicans and Catholics were having their prayers during the Way of the Cross [during Easter season], it was very peaceful because it was a public holiday…with the guidance of police and other security agencies even Muslims were not bothered,” a source quoted the president.

The President, according to sources, promised to write a detailed article explaining the causes of illegal demonstrations, abuse of constitutional rights to demonstrate, and the wanton excesses of some political characters trying to infringe on other peoples’ rights.
Other ministers argued that some Opposition protestors no longer fear police or guns because they use drugs. To show government seriousness in fighting drug abuse, one health minister proposed a “prophylactic mechanism” to deal with the vice and insisted that the qualifications for public offices be reviewed to weed out drug addicts.

Fearing that mandatory drugs-test might turn out to be a hard-sell in Parliament, the ministers resolved to engage legislators and other stakeholders. They also instructed the Attorney General to expedite the proposed electoral reforms. Other ministers maintained that compulsory drugs-test will not worry anybody except the offenders.
The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Chairman, Mr Jacob Oboth Oboth (West Budama South), the legal fraternity as well as MPs including those sympathetic to the ruling NRM party, yesterday reacted to the proposal with consternation.

They vowed to block any electoral reforms Bill containing mandatory drugs test. They argued that the drugs test would raise “political eyebrows and suspicion that somebody somewhere is a target”.
“Whether it’s morally right, it would be foolhardy to import such measures without raising political eyebrows and suspicions that somebody somewhere is a target... you can’t make laws with someone in mind unless the issue of drug abuse has been identified as a major public concern generally,” Mr Oboth Oboth reasoned.

Questioning the test
“What would be the basis of such mandatory tests? And which drug? I am not sure about the legality and enforceability of such a test. I wouldn’t support that.”
Coordinator of the Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (Cedu) coordinator, Mr Crispy Kaheru, said: “It’s an attempt to rid politics of drugs, but then it would have to be clear what is categorised as drugs….I hope it’s not used for political witch-hunt.”
Former FDC presidential candidate Kizza Besigye yesterday said he had not heard of the proposal.
Prof Venansius Baryamureeba, another former presidential candidate, warmed that “politics is not athletics” and explained that “if taking drugs is illegal, then you want politicians that are role models and not lawbreakers since they are the ones that make the laws. They have to practise what they preach”

Although the proposed mandatory drug test for political candidates is the only one of its kind in the East African region if not on the continent, the ministers cited Ukraine to justify the proposed law.
The just concluded Ukraine’s presidential election campaign took a surreal twist as Mr Petro Poroshenko, the incumbent and his comedian challenger, Volodymr Zelensky, both underwent drug tests on live television ahead of a debate.
Zelensky, a comedian with no political experience who played the role of the country’s President on a sitcom for three years, defeated the incumbent.

In the US state of Georgia, the Supreme Court in 1997, quashed a similar law that required political candidates to test negative for drug use in order to be placed on the ballot.
The court ruled that the law had violated the Fourth Amendment and the mandatory drug-test was an exercise in political symbolism that addressed a problem that was only ‘’hypothetical,’’ and that did so ineffectively at that.
The Supreme Court ruling added: ‘’However well-meant, the candidate drug test Georgia has devised diminishes personal privacy for a symbol’s sake [and that] the Fourth Amendment shields society against that state action.’’

EC responds
Asked whether it makes sense to subject candidates in the forthcoming general election to drugs test and whether the Electoral Commission (EC) had received any notification of the planned amendment, the Commission spokesperson, Mr Jotham Taremwa said: We wait it [proposed amendment] to come through, otherwise for now, it is still hearsay.”
The Shadow Attorney General, Mr Wilfred Niwagaba, asked: “Who tests the drugs and which drugs will they be testing? Definitely it is another scheme hatched by Mr President Museveni to ensure that he remains sole candidate. However, this provision is not in the Presidential Elections Act and can only remain wishful thinking by himself and those propagating it.”

What’s is drug test?

According to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, a drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, and/or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites.

What needs to be done

For Cabinet to have their wish succeed, the proposed amendments will have to be passed by Parliament, the supreme body mandated to make laws in Uganda. The various electoral laws will have to be amended to include the drugs test requirement for people vying for political offices. But those against the proposal can also petition the Constitutional Court to rule on the matter.

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