Electoral Reforms in Uganda

Over the years, various democracies around the world have proposed for some form of electoral reforms. Such democracies include; the UK, USA, India among others.

 In Uganda, Electoral Reforms are currently being advocated for by the Opposition parties and Civil Society organizations.  Electoral Reforms are usually mentioned in the same sentence as presidential term limits. Various campaigns have been run in the field of advocating for Presidential Term limits. Unfortunately, many of these campaigns have been unsuccessful and various advocates have been tear gassed, tortured and imprisoned. 

On the 25th of February 2014, the Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU) in Uganda presented two Electoral Reforms Drafts Bills; the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and Critical Areas and Reforms towards reforming Uganda’s Electoral Commission to the Deputy Attorney General Hon. Fred Ruhindi at the Attorney General’s Chambers on Parliamentary Avenue.

Later, on the 19^th March 2014, the team presented the same proposals to the committee of Legal and Parliamentary affairs at Eureka Hotel in Ntinda.

The proposed bills propose various changes. For instance, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill among others seeks to rename and reconstitute the Electoral Commission as an Independent Electoral Commission, to provide for the process of identifying and selecting persons who may be appointed as members to the commission, to provide for the independence and impartiality of the Commission and to provide the procedure for removing members of the Electoral Commission which is similar to the removal of Judges of the High Court. It therefore seeks the amendment of article 60 of the Constitution, replacement of article 62 and to add miscellaneous amendments to the constitution (inserting “Independent” immediately before “Electoral Commission”).

The Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill seeks to have a clear procedure on the identification of persons to serve or to be appointed as members of the Commission. It also proposes to give power to the Judicial Service Commission to spearhead the process of identifying the 14 persons and recommend them for appointment as members of the Commission.

The other proposed critical areas for reforms ahead of 2016 polls are, Qualifications of Commissioners, Funding of the Electoral Commission and the Length and Security of tenure and a clear voters register among others.

With this small brief about the proposed bills, we ask various ourselves questions. So the bills have been drafted and presented, what next? Where does the opposition and civil society organizations move from here?

According to chimpreports.com; an online newspaper, the opposition leaders and civil society organizations are seeking to mobilize Ugandans to rally behind these proposals with their new campaign “Free and Fair Elections Now”. This campaign was launched on 22^nd March 2014 in Mbale District. Still according to chimpreports.com, after launching the initiative, the opposition leaders embarked on a cross country mobilizing campaign.

It is therefore safe to assume that half the work is done; the proposals have been drafted, the masses are being sensitized. So will the government sign them into law? Is Uganda as democratic as it wants to believe? 

We want and hope for free and fair elections come 2016 and these proposals are a stepping stone into that future. It’s a start to better electoral system.