Democratic Alliance leader Mathias Mpuuga addresses the media at their offices in Namirembe, Kampala, in December 2024. PHOTO | ABUBAKER LUBOWA
Mixed reactions have greeted a raft of proposals by the Democratic Alliance leader aimed at facilitating a peaceful election and transition of power, even as similar proposals have for more than a decade remained on shelves.
Questions abound on what Mathias Mpuuga, the immediate past Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), will do differently and whether there is sufficient time to bring to life the proposals that have for long been pushed by change seekers in vain.
“These are the right reforms that Uganda needs. The question, however, is, is there political will? Also, we have a question of time because nominations are in August/September and October. It would still be good to have these laws enacted, even [at] the last hour. We have a bloated government structure that should be of concern to everyone,” Ms Sarah Bireete, the executive director of Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), said.
She added: “The other much-needed reforms include regulation of campaign finances, fully digitalising the elections and increased transparency for transmission, tabulation and announcement of presidential results.”
In a document titled “The Proposal on National Transition and Reform”, Mr Mpuuga has proposed a string of constitutional, electoral and administrative reforms to be effected before the next general election and pave the way for a peaceful transition. Under the Constitution review, the former LoP has proposed the introduction of a federal system model and proportional representation model, the substitution of the position of vice president with deputy president, and the restoration of presidential term and age limits.
Mr Mpuuga is also pushing for a reduction in the size of Parliament and the Executive.
Other proposals
To facilitate a fair electoral process, Mr Mpuuga is pushing for the adoption of a biometric voting system, a review manner of appointment of the Electoral Commission (EC) to provide for independence, voting for President by Ugandans in the Diaspora, voting by prisoners except those on death row, and demilitarisation of elections. The Nyendo-Mukungwe legislator also wants the laws changed to have the final presidential result declared in the district. He also wants to allow presidential elections to be annulled by proof of electoral fraud in at least five districts to cure the substantiality rule.
“The nation awaits the first peaceful and smooth transfer of power from President Museveni to the next leader and this is the right time. Since 1962, elections have been held in conditions that are far removed from being free, fair and credible. Since 1999, the electoral legal framework has been consequential only to the extent of representation at Parliament and local government levels,” he said at a media briefing on Friday.
Mr Godber Tumushabe, the Executive Director of Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS), yesterday said they have been pushing for similar reforms for years. “If he wanted to do these things, he had a very solid platform around which he could do it. But for now, the things he’s talking about are things we’ve talked about for many years. If he’s doing this to complete his transformation from being a leader into an activist, I think that is understandable,” he said.
Been there before
In 2014, the National Consultative Forum came up with the Uganda Citizens’ Compact on Free and Fair Elections, which listed a host of similar proposals. The other of Mr Mpuuga’s agenda are recommendations made by the Supreme Court in 2016 after Mr Amama Mbabazi challenged Mr Museveni’s win at the ballot. They too have also been ignored by the government.
Mr Mpuuga has also borrowed from the flopped Private Member’s Bill that earlier sought the restoration of presidential term limits to two five-year terms, removal of army representatives from Parliament, a repeal of the Public Order Management Act, as well as reducing the size of Parliament and Cabinet. Among the Opposition proposals was a call for presidential aspirants, who garnered 10 per cent or more of the total votes cast to become automatic ex-officio Members of Parliament, reinstatement of the presidential term and age limits, and the introduction of a federal system of government.
The former LoP said he is planning to table Bills for the enactment of multiple laws, including the Constitutional Amendment Act, the National Transition and Reconciliation Act, the Presidential Transition Act, the Presidential Privileges and Immunities Act, the National Devolution Act, the Proportional Representation (National Electoral System) Act, which he will table as soon as he is given space on the order paper.
But previous attempts by the Opposition to introduce a Private Members Bill on the topic of elections and transition have been frustrated. Even the current Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, Mr Norbert Mao, the champion of dialogue and reconciliation, recently expressed frustration at the workings of the government that have failed many of the aspirations he thought he would achieve by joining the current government.
Mr Mao is the president-general of one of Uganda’s oldest political parties, the Democratic Party (DP).
State capture, life president
According to Mr Tumushabe, the approach to regime change has changed.
“It will not be a civic organisation like professional bodies alone. It will not be religious institutions alone. So that’s what I’ve been saying in the current context. You need what I call a collective citizen’s resistance to the current state capture,” he told the Monitor.
He added: “As a country where we are now, you have to understand that the President himself is in the mental programming that he is a life president. So whatever proposals and discussions we have, we have to be conscious that you are dealing with a person who has configured the institutions of State and developed institutions of citizenship for him to sustain his life president’s project. And so in that context, one has to understand that there is no single organisation of citizens that can actually take on the mantle of changing our governance trajectory. What do I mean? In other words, it will not be political parties to change the trajectory of governance in this country.”
Late to the party?
DP Secretary General Gerald Siranda said while the reforms are necessary, Mr Mpuuga, who has been in the House for 15 years, maybe late to the party. Mr Rogers Mulindwa, the National Resistance Movement communication officer, said: “[Mr Mpuuga] is also a legislator, he has the right to come up with a Bill, and if they go through, they will win. They should use their positions and stop lamenting.”
Mr Mpuuga, who unveiled his agenda in Kampala, also cautioned his fellow regime seekers against the delusions of focusing on the 2026 General Election, saying the current environment cannot deliver a proper election, let alone a transition hence the need for reform.
“I want to remind every citizen of their duty to demand a free and fair electoral process. That is what we ask of ourselves and other colleagues. Do not reserve your energy for 2026 to demand for [EC Chairperson], Mr [Simon Mugenyi] Byabakama, to declare for you. Use that energy now to demand for a free and fair electoral process,” he advised.
“I have heard people say you’re talking about nice things, but Gen Museveni will not accept. Who tells you we’re here to massage Gen Museveni? We must compel Gen Museveni to listen to the people,” he added, noting that some of the people in power are scared of stepping down and facing consequences.
Mr Mpuuga has also called for the establishment of a national commission for healing, reparations and reconciliation; the release of all political prisoners; amnesty for perpetrators; and compensation to victims “Brutal military violence, repression, excessive violations, transgressions and abuse of people’s human rights, absence of the rule of law and constitutionalism, instability of the State, which have under-pinned Uganda’s governance, have left severe disruption of the country’s socioeconomic and political fabric, massive loss of life and property, physical scars and heavy hearts, that can only be mitigated by a process of national dialogue and reconciliation,” the document states.
In 2023, while still the LoP, Mr Mpuuga led the Opposition political parties in a three-day consultative workshop during a fresh push for constitutional and electoral reforms. This was meant to be followed by countrywide consultations, but the process collapsed after he fell out with his party, NUP over corruption allegations.
