President Museveni has been in power since 1986.
Thirty one years ago on Tuesday, it emerged that a section of both proponents of both the Movement system of government and a section of proponents of multiparty democracy in the Constituent Assembly (CA), had come up with the idea of turning the government led by President Yoweri Museveni. It was not clear whether Dr Specioza Wandira Kazibwe would be retained as vice president and George Cosmos Adyebo as prime minister and leader of governments’ business in the transition government. Adyebo served as prime minister between January 22, 1991 and November 18, 1994. He died on November 19, 2000 at the age of 53. Under the plan, the CA would be turned into a transition parliament, but again, there was no clarity on what would befall the National Resistance Council (NRC), which had a few years before then been expanded to include 220 county representatives, district women representatives, 10 army representatives, and 20 presidential nominees.
There were however arguments at the time that the CA would be more credible if transformed into a legislature because most of its members were elected on universal adult suffrage. The majority of NRC members had on the other hand been elected by electoral colleges. According to the Monitor’s newspaper edition of July 1, 1994, the plan had been meant to come into effect on January 27, 1996, a day after the National Resistance Movement’s four-year extension of its rule lapsed. It should be remembered that on January 29, 1986 when Mr Museveni took first took oath as President, he promised to lead a transitional arrangement which would culminate into elections and a handover of power back to a civilian authority within three years, a promise which might have been overtaken by the provisions of Legal Notice No 1 of 1986.
Legal Notice Number 1 of 1986 which was outed after the swearing in provided for a four year interim period which was meant to have ended in an election in 1990 However, an October 11, 1989 vote which was preceded by months of debate on a bill, “legal notice No.1 of 1986 Amendment No 1 of 1989”, the National Resistance Council (NRC), which is considered the fifth parliament of Uganda voted on to extend the expiry date of the NRM’s interim administration to January 26, 1995. Allowing for the NRM and by extension the NRC, ample time to complete the writing of a new constitution was among the many reasons given to justify the four year extension.
Conundrum
However by July 1994, it was clear that the CA would not have completed the writing of the constitution within the slightly more than seven months that were remaining between then and January 26, 1996 when the four-year extension was meant to lapse. According to the newspaper the plan to have a transition government and parliament in place was being brokered behind the scenes as a compromise for both advocates of the Movement and proponents of multiparty democracy, who would now be called upon to work out a power-sharing agreement ahead of the formation of a transition government.
At the time, the NRM had formed what was then known as a “broad based government”. It included members of the old political parties, the Democratic Party (DP) and the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), his old party the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) and members of the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A). The newspaper however reported that the biggest bone of contention as of July 1995 was the type of government that would be formed and how the country would be eased into holding an election.
Disadvantaged
Proponents of multiparty democracy were reportedly opposed to going into an election immediately after completion of work on the new constitution on grounds that whereas the Movement had been freely operating for eight years, the political parties had not been operating and would need time to “reorganise” before going into an election. It should be remembered that Legal Notice number 1 of 1986 suspended “all forms of political activities and any other form of political activities” until further notice. The same instrument directed that all forms of gatherings had to be cleared by the police. In August 1992 the NRC resolved to suspend “the activities of the parties in the interim” to ostensibly “help curb sectarian tensions”.
The shackles were further tightened in 1993 when the NRC while debating the Constituent Assembly (CA) statute of 1993, barred political parties from fielding candidates in the March 1994 CA elections. The law provided that candidates could only contest the elections on “individual merit”. The newspaper reported that proponents of multiparty politics were in the circumstances arguing that a snap election would give the Movement an outright win.
Win-win
According to the newspaper, the proposed formation of a transition government would be a win on fronts. “Outnumbered and outplayed, several multi-party delegates are said to be arguing that a snap election in 1995 would give NRM an easy election win, something everyone fears might brew trouble, but in making that argument (for a transition government), they will be able to eat their cake and have it at the same time. They could “eat” something from supporting an extension of NRM rule in more respectable form in the transitional government, and yet appear to their electorate to have supported multipartyism in principle,” the newspaper wrote.
The newspaper however reported that the idea of the Movement getting any form of extension by way of means had become quite unpopular. “That the Movement system- or the NRM-be given five more years in its present form, which has until now seemed a credible idea, is withering. Most critics say if NRM got another lease of power through any kind of arrangement other than a real general election, they would appear like political crooks who have stayed longer than their welcome,” the newspaper wrote.
Cost implications
However, there were also arguments that it would be practically impossible to hold an election in January 1995 when the NRM’s mandate would expire on account of the many logistical challenges that it would pose. Mr Stephen Besweri Akabway, the CA commissioner, seemed to be against the idea of holding an election. He was quoted telling attendees at an Election Evaluation Workshop in Mbarara that given the many hurdles, the conservative estimate was that it would require 10 to 12 months for his commission to adequately prepare for an election. The cheap alternative would in light of those arguments be to make Mr Museveni a transitional leader and the CA as a transitional parliament.
The plan
The plan, which was considered very convenient as it would hand Mr Museveni who had always been looked at as the man who “initiated the democratisation process” the task of leading the transition government, would also entail the president transforming the National Resistance Army (NRA) into a national army. It was further proposed that the national army be recruited by providing each of the 39 districts with quotas of slots. Those moves, it was argued, would help change the widespread view that the NRA was Mr Museveni’s army. It was also proposed that the political parties would together with the CA delegates nominate persons who would then be appointed to be ministers in the transition government, which would steer the country into the general election, which was due to be held in 2000.
As it turned out, those proposals did not see the light of day. Writing of the constitution continued several months after the NRM’s extension had lapsed. The new constitution was promulgated on October 8, 1995. On October 24, 1995, Mr Steven Kavuma, the minister of State for Constitutional Affairs, informed a cabinet that the President had named Mr Akabway to head the Interim Electoral Commission (IEC), which managed the 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections, the first under the 1995 constitution.
1994
Writing of the constitution.
By July 1994, it was clear that the CA would not have completed the writing of the constitution within the slightly more than seven months that were remaining between then and January 26, 1996 when the four-year extension was meant to lapse.
