Mr. Young's advice for Uganda's opposition!

I like your suggestions Mr. Young, but you cannot dismiss the EU observer team conclusion that:

" the electoral process was marred by avoidable administrative and logistical failures which led to an unacceptable number of Ugandan citizens being disenfranchised. Furthermore, the power of incumbency was exercised to such an extent as to compromise severely the level playing field between the competing candidates and political parties.

First, we need some real fundamental  changes in the electoral process & restore term limits.

Second, even if the opposition applied all of your ideas, M7's entrenched culture of clientelistic networks that is well documented in  Professor Aili Mari Tripp's book  leaves the opposition at such a disadvantage in Uganda much as it did in a nuanced way in Egypt for Mubarak or any other despot.

Third  the electoral commission & it's chairman should be under the control of all stake holders and not the whims of the president.

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Uganda’s elections marred by avoidable failures

By Baroness Catherine Ashton EU Vice President
and High Representative | Daily Monitor February 22 2011

Click this link to check out the interim report by the EAC-COMESA & IGAD observer team!

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has been present in Uganda since January 15 following an invitation from the government of Uganda and the Electoral Commission. The EU EOM is led by Edward Scicluna, Member of the European Parliament. The EU EOM deployed 120 observers from 27 EU member states and Norway.

The observers were deployed throughout Uganda to observe and assess the electoral process in accordance with international and regional standards for elections. The EU EOM was joined by a four-member delegation from the European Parliament, led by Joachim Zeller, Member of the European Parliament, which endorses this preliminary statement.

On Election Day, observers visited 643 polling stations and district tallying centres in all the Districts of Uganda to observe voting, counting and the tabulation of results. The EU EOM will remain in country to observe postelection developments. This statement is preliminary; a final report including recommendations for future elections will be published in May 2011. The EU EOM is independent in its findings and conclusions.

Preliminary conclusions

The 2011 Ugandan general elections showed some improvements over the previous elections held in 2006. However, the electoral process was marred by avoidable administrative and logistical failures which led to an unacceptable number of Ugandan citizens being disenfranchised. Furthermore, the power of incumbency was exercised to such an extent as to compromise severely the level playing field between the competing candidates and political parties.

Notwithstanding a number of incidents of violence and intimidation, especially on Election Day, the electoral campaign and polling day were conducted in a peaceful manner. Restraint in campaign rhetoric as well as a generally improved performance by the Ugandan police force contributed to this.

The lack of trust by stakeholders in the fundamental building blocks of the electoral process, namely in the Electoral Commission itself and the National Voter Register, dominated debate at the expense of policy issues, which would normally be at the centre of an election campaign and led to a breakdown of effective communication between the Electoral Commission and many of the stakeholders.

The Electoral Commission is to be commended for meeting best international practice by publishing election results polling station by polling station, which ensures full transparency as well as greater confidence and trust in the results for Uganda’s citizens.
The introduction of electronic transmission of results from district tally centres to the National Tally Centre marked a further improvement. In a further effort to improve transparency and confidence, the Electoral Commission arranged for political party representatives to join Electoral Commissioners in overseeing the printing of presidential and parliamentary ballot papers.

Uganda’s legal framework establishes comprehensive and detailed electoral provisions which provide a workable foundation for the conduct of elections, generally in line with Uganda’s international commitments and obligations. Recent amendments to the Election Acts provide for additional safeguards against electoral offences, but they have addressed neither the main concerns of most national stakeholders, nor the core recommendations of the 2006 EU EOM, such as reform of the Electoral Commissioners’ appointment process.

The campaign was conducted in a fairly open and free environment, in which the freedoms of expression, assembly and association were generally respected. Candidates and parties campaigned intensively, and were mostly able to move freely throughout the country. The distribution of money and gifts by candidates, especially from the ruling party, a practice inconsistent with democratic principles, was widely observed by EU EOM observers.

Citizens, candidates and parties have frequently sought recourse to the courts to resolve critical issues concerning the applicable legal and constitutional framework with regard to elections. Despite being under-resourced, the courts have demonstrated a considerable degree of independence in upholding the rule of law and respect for human rights. The higher courts’ decisions frequently cite international law and precedent, including jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.

Although the police issued repeated warnings against election-related protests, it is regrettable that no significant effort was undertaken by any state body to educate the public about electoral malpractices and the criminal sanctions they attract. Such failure is prone to instil a sense of impunity.

The state-owned broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), failed to comply with its legal obligations to treat each presidential and parliamentary candidate equally, with its television channel giving the incumbent president and the ruling NRM party substantially more coverage than their nearest rivals.

The government’s dominance of state-owned radio, the only broadcasting network covering almost all areas of the country, was not balanced by private radio stations established outside the capital, which generally provided opposition candidates with very limited access.

Baroness Ashton is EU Vice President
and High Representative

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"Museveni goes from big bully to artful dodger" - Daniel Kalinaki .

"What we have witnessed in this election is the transformation of Museveni from the soldier who bullies and batters his opponents to the politician who buys and bribes out his rivals" - Daniel Kalinak


MY VIEW: Museveni goes from big bully to artful dodger


By Daniel Kalinaki | Daily Monitor Thursday, February 17 2011


If President Museveni wins tomorrow’s election he will not just etch his name in the longevity books but will also have completed the second most tactical shift in strategy since he dropped his Communist-Marxist ideology for Capitalism/Free Market theory.

What we have witnessed in this election is the transformation of Museveni from the soldier who bullies and batters his opponents to the politician who buys and bribes out his rivals.

So in many ways we have made progress from the 2001 and 2006 elections where violence and intimidation were the key tools used to mobilise fear and support but then also gone back to the days of the Obote II government where political opportunism thrived.

President Museveni came into this election at his weakest, with runaway corruption endemic in his inner circle, a culture of impunity that has allowed services to fall apart, and a general incompetence in government that has led many citizens to try and survive inspite of government, rather than thrive because of it.

President Museveni has spent most of his campaign time hiding from the failures of his government in a mastery of the political game of “pass-the-buck”.

Is it bad roads? Blame the weather or the donors who impose conditions on the money they give or lend us to build them.

Is it poor education under the UPE and USE systems? Blame the absentee teachers (many of whom are too busy running side businesses because they are poorly paid).

Is it lack of medicines in government hospitals? Blame it on the doctors who steal the drugs and sell them in their private clinics to make a living.

At a meeting with Commonwealth Observers this week Andrew Mwenda described how Mr Museveni had, during a rally in Masaka, reduced the failures of the NAADS farmer extension programme into the responsibility of the programme coordinator in the district.

There was no mention of the agriculture minister perhaps because that could then raise the question of who appoints them and what it says about their own leadership and management skills.

The Old Man has pulled another rabbit from the hat by turning himself into a victim. Many voters, especially in the villages, believe ‘Mzee’ means well and wants the best for them but is constantly let down by technocrats and bureaucrats. That strategy has been supplemented by a massive spending spree, which we do not have to revisit here.

However, that is a one-shot strategy. If Museveni is re-elected tomorrow and intends to run again in 2016, he cannot expect to return to voters in 2015 and hope that he will sell them the same cock-and-bull story of being let down by his people.

It means that Museveni, if he is re-elected, will have to run an efficient and effective government in which politicians, including the President, take individual responsibility for government actions rather than hide behind the cover of collective responsibility or pass the buck to technocrats.

Unfortunately, that is something the President has failed to do in his 25 years in power and one that he is unlikely to do in the fading days of his political career.

Corrupt governments are incapable of being efficient in their allocation of resources, or being transparent and accountable in their actions because they thrive in dysfunction.

Since it will be harder to beat up opponents or pass the buck in future elections, it just might be that the next President will be one who pays the highest bribe per vote. In which case we have not seen the last of NRM.

dkalinaki@ug.nationmedia.com

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Change is a "strategic necessity" - Hillary Clinton

The following are excerpts( some paraphrased! ) from the US secretary of state remarks at the International Security Conference in Munich. She might as well have directed these remarks to president Museveni!

Change is a "strategic necessity" - it makes nations stronger and more prosperous and less susceptible to extremist ideologies.


"The status quo: "the culture of one man knows best, better than anybody" is simply not sustainable."


"Some leaders may believe that their country is an exception - that their people will not demand greater political or economic opportunities, or that they can be placated with half-measures," Clinton said. "In the short term, that may be true; but in the long-term that is untenable."

"Without genuine progress toward open and accountable political systems, the gap between people and their governments will only grow, and instability will only deepen."

"incremental steps that do not give people full freedom and opportunity only breed further discontent."

"If the events of these past few weeks prove anything, it is that the governments who consistently deny their people freedom and opportunity are the ones who will, in the end, open the door to instability."

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