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Past and Present: NRM trounces Reform Agenda in ‘rigged’ Rukungiri LC5 poll
Former Reform Agenda presidential candidate Kizza Besigye (right) and his partner Winnie Byanyima. Ms Byanyima campaigned for Rukungiri Reform Agenda candidate Athanathius Rutaroh. PHOTO/ FILE
What you need to know:
- Rukungiri District returning officer Frank Ntaho said there were a few isolated cases of intimidation which could not affect the results. But election monitors cited catalogues of election malpractices at almost all polling stations.
Twenty three years ago last week, the Election Monitoring Group – Uganda (NEMGROUP-U), non-governmental organisations (NGO) election monitors, declared the hotly contested April 11, 2002, Rukungiri District LC5 elections rigged. The election observers issued a statement in Kampala on April 16, 2002, saying the election in Rukungiri, which saw the government-backed William Gabriel Kangwagye beat the incumbent, Mr Athanathius Rutaroh, “was not free and fair”.
It should be remembered that Dr Kizza Besigye first challenged Mr Museveni for the presidency in 2001 with reforms in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) as the rallying point, hence the tagline “Reform Agenda”. Mr Rutaroh was one of Dr Besigye’s supporters and a member of the Reform Agenda.
Dr Besigye was at the time living in exile in South Africa. He had twice been hounded off planes as he tried to leave the country. On March 17, 2001, he was forced off a South African Airways flight before being ejected from a Kenya Airways flight on May 25, 2001. His internal movements had also been heavily curtailed before he fled into exile on August 17, 2001.
The result
Mr Kangwagye was declared the winner of the poll on the morning of April 11. Rukungiri District returning officer Frank Ntaho announced that Kangwagye had defeated his main rival with a difference of 26,472 votes, having garnered 49,741 votes against Mr Rutaroh’s 23,269. According to Daily Monitor’s edition of April 13, 2002, Mr Rutaroh won in only Rukungiri Town Council. He lost in all the other 10 sub-counties in an election that Mr Ntaho said was largely peaceful.
"There were a few isolated cases of intimidation in the elections which could not at all affect the results," the newspaper quoted Mr Ntaho to have said.
Monitors disagree
However, the election monitors who had observed the 2001 presidential, parliamentary and Local Council elections did not agree with Mr Ntaro’s assessment. According to Daily Monitor’s edition of April 17, 2002, NEMGROUP-U believed that the “irregularities and malpractices observed do not render this election free and fair, regardless of the result”. The observers cited "catalogues of election malpractices" at almost all polling stations that they visited. "These included beating of agents of candidate Rutaroh, intimidation of voters, multiple voting, and illegal assistance of voters,” the observers said in a statement. "Whereas this election has had comparatively less violence than previous elections in Rukungiri, NEMGROUP-U still witnessed disturbing cases of violence and intimidation against candidate Rutaroh's agents and supporters.
There were actual beatings reported and witnessed, and in other cases, NEMGROUP-U was able to verify cases of confiscation of agents' appointment letters and their being chased away from polling stations,” the statement said. The monitors noted that all cases of interference were directly in favour of the winner, Mr Kangwagye. "Direct interference by some government officials in the voting process was also noted with concern. NEMGROUP-U monitors observed that in Murama Parish, Nyakishenyi Sub-county, Phillip Kyokwise, a sector Internal Security Officer, confiscated appointment letters of Rutaroh's agents. The same officer also deployed some armed security personnel at polling stations at Rwindo Primary School. These security personnel cocked their weapons with the intention of intimidating voters,” said the statement.
Some presiding officers and polling assistants were aiding the illegal "assistance" of voters by candidates' agents, as well as multiple voting. "NEMGROUP-U monitors also observed disturbing cases of agents wrestling voters and snatching away ballot papers,” the monitors added. The report pointed to a premeditated plan to influence the outcome of the election in particular sub-counties. "The nature and incidence of these offences indicate an organised and targeted attempt to influence the outcome of the vote, especially in Nyakishenyi, Nyarushanje and Ruhinda sub-counties," the group said. The statement named one Jamada from the office of the District Internal Security Officer and Kangwagye’s agents as some of the people who were heavily involved in election malpractices.
Call to action
The report ended with a call on the government and the Electoral Commission (EC) to make an effort to improve elections "There needs to be a concerted effort on the part of government, the Electoral Commission and the general citizenry to redeem the marred image of elections in Rukungiri and Uganda as a whole," the statement noted.
Museveni’s message
It should, however, be remembered that President Museveni had earlier sent a message to the people of Rukungiri thanking them for refusing to vote for Mr Rutaroh. Mr Museveni’s message was read to those who attended a victory party that was organised for Mr Kangwagye in Rukungiri Stadium two days after the election. The message was read by the then Health minister, Brig Jim Muhwezi. Mr Museveni thanked the people for not allowing Mbarara Municipality MP Winnie Byanyima, who had arrived in the district on April 10, 2002, the eve of the poll, to campaign for Mr Rutaroh.
Byanyima court victory
Ms Byanyima had set off from Mbarara to Rukungiri after Justice Vincent Kagaba of the High Court in Mbarara dismissed an election petition that had been filed by her challenger in the parliamentary elections, Mr Ngoma Ngime. Mr Ngime, a former Resident District Commissioner of Mbarara, had, with government backing, contested against Ms Byanyima in the June 26, 2001, elections and lost by 164 votes. On July 3, 2001, he applied for a recount in Mbarara Chief Magistrate's court, which was upheld, but on the second day of the recount, Ms Byanyima applied in the High Court for a revision order, which was allowed by Justice Musoke Kibuuka on July 17. Minutes after the judge announced his decision, Mr Ngime filed a fresh petition challenging the outcome of the election. "The election of Winnie Byanyima as MP for Mbarara Municipality is upheld. I, therefore, award the respondents all the costs," Justice Vincent Kagaba ruled on the morning of April 10, 2002.
The judge also blamed the EC and Uganda National Examinations Board for not verifying Ngime's qualifications, saying his “degree certificate was suspect... At nomination time, he was like an O-Level [leaver]... although the returning officer (Hezzy Kafureka) did not see this, so he was wrongly nominated”. The judge blamed Ms Byanyima’s team for not having raised the matter earlier. The judge also declared Ms Byanyima innocent of alleged involvement in electoral malpractices during campaigns and on polling day. Soon after the verdict was read, Mr Ngime, following consultations with his legal team that was comprised of Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Mr James Akampumuza, Mr Vincent Kamugisha, and Mr Muzamiru Kibeedi, told the media that "we are appealing straight away". Mr Kiwanuka is the Attorney General, while Mr Kibeedi is now a justice of the Court of Appeal.
Also at the court in Mbarara on that day was Mr Museveni’s adviser on legal affairs, Mr Fox Odoi, and Maj Roland Kakooza Mutale’s men, Chris Kakama and Hakim Lukenge, who drove off with Mr Ngime’s lawyers. "I expected such a verdict. I respect the courts," Daily Monitor’s edition of April 11, 2002 quoted Ms Byanyima to have said, before hugging her parents and joining hundreds of supporters, some of whom either flashed the victory sign or waved campaign posters of her and of Dr Besigye. The supporters later took the celebrations to the streets of Mbarara. Mr Museveni, in his message to the people of Rukungiri, said that although the media tried to promote Ms Byanyima, she could not force the people of Rukungiri to vote for a person who they did not want. Mr Muhwezi, on his part, accused Mr Rutaroh of trying to use people whom he had unlawfully awarded tenders to solicit votes for him.
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Message to Rukungiri people...
President Museveni, in his message to the people of Rukungiri, said although the media tried to promote Ms Byanyima, she could not force the people of Rukungiri to vote for a person who they did not want.
