Tuesday 10 January, 2012
Eng. Dr. Badru M. Kigundu,
Chairman,
Electoral Commission,
Jinja Road,
Kampala.
PETITION TO THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO HOLD A REFERENDUM FOR THE PURPOSE OF CHANGING THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF UGANDA AS PROVIDED FOR UNDER ARTICLES 1, 2 & 74(1)(C)(3) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF UGANDA
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Please accept our cordial regards and good wishes for the New Year to you, personally, and to the entire community of the Electoral Commission.
We thank you for honouring our request for a meeting with the Electoral Commission by inviting us here today. The names and designations of our delegation are at the back of this document – please turn to the last page as I introduce them to you.
INTRODUCTION
As you are no doubt aware, Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA) subscribes to federalism believing that it is the most equitable political system for Uganda given our country’s history, geography and aspirations. This subscription is premised on Uganda’s turbulent forty nine years of independence from colonial rule, largely characterized by a vicious cycle of turmoil, conflict, war, human rights’ abuse, electoral malpractices, corruption, disease, hunger and illiteracy, among others. During the forty nine years, except for the first Prime Minister of Uganda, Dr. Obote, who was elected under the auspices of the colonial government, the successive seven Heads of State assumed power through force of arms and left through the same route. Currently, the departure of the incumbent Head of State is a subject of speculation and controversy, rather than a known or predictable variable!
A casual glance at Uganda’s post-independence history shows that in-coming Heads of State are always warmly welcomed by a sizeable number of Ugandans, but their performance has, without exception, left a lot to be desired, leaving Ugandans no choice but to resort to unconventional means of deposing them. Unfortunately, merely deposing the Heads of State and replacing them with others, has not provided this country with any respite. This leads to the logical conclusion that the problem of Uganda is more complex than just the Head of State and therefore the solution more sophisticated than merely deposing him.
It is a historical fact that the different communities that came to make up Uganda all lost their power to the British, by force, towards the end of the nineteenth century. The historical wars fought by Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro and Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda were fought to resist British rule. It was only after both Kings were defeated and exiled to the Seychelles that we lost our power to the British, who established a governance system suitable for their objective of exploiting colonies. Such a system was necessarily dictatorial, undemocratic, oppressive and exploitative. Needless to say, it provoking the struggle to regain our power through independence. Sadly, even after independence, the people of Uganda have never, really, regained their power, because it was just inherited by post independence rulers, who have carried on pretty much as the colonialists did, by abusing and exploiting Ugandans.
Although the declaration of independence on 9th October, 1962 is commemorated as an event, it should have been the beginning of a process through which Ugandans would regain their power. unfortunately the process has never taken off, because successive post independence governments did not dismantled the over-centralized colonial system of administration, which had been deliberately so designed to anchor colonialism in order to support the colonial objective of exploitation. After independence, the Governor’s absolute authority was just passed onto successive Heads of State, while the oppressive colonial system remained intact!
UFA believes that the process of independence began and ended on 9 October, 1962, when the British lowered their Flag at Kololo Independence Grounds, and the First Prime Minister of independent Uganda, Dr Apollo Milton Obote, hoisted Uganda’s Flag. The oppressive and exploitative system continues to this day, hence the need to overhaul of the system in order give back the people of Uganda their power!
Examining the various political systems round the world – socialism, communism, monarchism, feudalism, oligarchies, colonialism, unitary and federalism, the latter is the system that nearest gives people their power. It is therefore not surprising that former British colonies including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and more recently Kenya, opted out of the unitary system after independence, for the federal system.
UFA believes, like those former British colonies, that federalism is the most equitable governance system, and it is for that matter that we resolved to evoke Article 74(1) C) & (3) to change Uganda’s system to federalism through a referendum, by submitting to the Electoral Commission at least five million signatures of petitioners who are determined to settle the matter of change of political system to federalism through a referendum.
ENGAGEMENT WITH THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
The functions of the EC are laid down in Article 61 of the Constitution of Uganda, so we must work closely with the Commission in pursuit of our aspirations, through Article 74. We would, therefore, like to discuss the following issues with the EC in order that we may foresee and plan for any hiccups that may hinder the smooth management of the referendum process that began on 30 November, 2011, when the UFA NEC resolved to call for a referendum:
1. The EC’s capacity to verify more than 5,000,000 (five million) registered voters, whose signatures we intend to submit to you as petitioners in May 2015.
2. The EC’s capacity to organize a credible, free and fair referendum in a period of four (4) months (May 2015 and October 2015), given that nominations of Presidential and Parliamentary candidates are likely to take place in October and November 2015, setting off the process of the General Elections that will end in March 2016.
We are mindful that during the presidential candidates’ nomination exercise of 25 / 26 October, 2011, each of the eight (8) candidates submitted about 200 signatures from each of the 117 districts, which totaled to about 187,200 voters, but the EC had advised early submission to avoid being caught by time. If the EC took one week, working full time, day and night, having deployed all the Commission’s personnel and facilities to verify 187,200 voters, using simple arithmetic, to verify 5,000,000 voters, the EC will need about 6 months, working day and night, using ALL the EC facilities. How feasible is that?
3. Update of voter register in preparation for the referendum to include those who wish to sign up as petitioners but are not yet registered.
4. Your plans to formulate and implement the voter educational programme relating to the referendum.
5. The possible impact of Articles 5(2), 176(1),(2), 178, 179, 183, 186, 188 etc on the call for a referendum
6. Legislation that need to be amended or created to support a smooth referendum exercise
7. Funding of the referendum process.
8. Issues raised by Elections’ Observers in respect to all elections held since 1996 and the two Court rulings in the Besigye Vs Museveni Judgment of 2001 & 2006.
9. Will the EC provide us with standard forms on which to collect signatures as happens during elections?
10. At what point does the EC’s responsibility begin once citizens express their intentions to call for a referendum, what is the scope of that responsibility and under which authority does that EC derive that responsibility?
11. Inclusion of the Ugandan Diaspora in the decision making process by arranging for them to vote.
12. Please urgently furnish us with certified information of registered voters per constituency
UGANDA FEDERAL ALLIANCE DELEGATION TO THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2011
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1. Mr. Peter Mayeku Malesi – Party Chairman
2. Ms. Beti Olive Namisango Kamya – Party President
3. Mr. Boniface Oniba Ekanya – National Party Vice President
4. Mr. Yosam Baguma -Chairman, Federal System
Development Commission
5. Eng Jimmy Mayanja – Vice Chairman (Buganda Region)
6. Lt (Rtd) Frank Matovu – Vice President (Buganda Region)
7. Mr. Richard Sebunya Sanjula – Secretary General
8. Ms Annet Namusuba – Deputy Secretary General
9. Dr. Waiswa Kibumba – National Chief Mobilizer
10. Ms. Christine Kisubi – Chairperson, Electoral Commission
11. Mr. Emma Kamara Twinomujuni – Secretary for Labour, Employment &
Public Service
12. Haji Abdonoor Kitandwe – Secretary for Defense, Security &
Public Order
13. Mr. Ndugu Omong – Secretary for Finance
14. Ms Genevieve Abwata – Secretary for Information & Party Spokesperson
15. Ms Winfred Nakajubi – Chairperson, Women’s League
16. Mr. Kennedy Oluma – Chairperson, Youth League
We look forward to fruitful and cordial engagement with you.
Sincerely,
Beti Olive Namisango Kamya
President
Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA)
