Elections: We can't ignore the successes

By James R. Tumusiime

As the dust raised by the presidential polls gradually settles, and the country gradually goes back to work, it is time for Ugandans to take stock and evaluate the exercise to establish whether there was a worthwhile return on this heavy investment in our attempt to build a culture of democracy.

Looking at the balance sheet, it is clear that this time, there were more favourable returns than ever before.

To begin with, the huge increase in the voter turn up shows that Ugandans are beginning to have faith in their ability to shape national politics through the ballot.
    
And they have already demonstrated this ability, and used their power to recall non-performers, punish candidates for unfriendly policies and reward those they considered to be doing the right things.  A good example was the admission by President Museveni  last Saturday that voters in Wakiso, especially Kira, punished him and the NRM for evicting them from the City centre as vendors, without helping them to acquire alternative means of livelihood. Such an admission was unheard of in the past.

Who imagined that voters had the power to humiliate political giants? This could only be done in a transparent and free election. And it was exercised across the board with those originally perceived as the pillars of the ruling party NRM being evicted by relatively insignificant opponents, just like it happened in the opposition FDC.

Who can now doubt that voters act rationally?  It came out clearly that where the Government invested well, it reaped high returns.  Examples abound in different parts of the country, especially in the north and eastern Uganda, where the NRM has in recent times concentrated many development programmes. These have swung voter opinion strongly in its favour.

Similarly, the ambivalent and inadequate policies to tackle youth unemployment continued to haunt the ruling party while providing ammunition to the opposition. And the results were there for all to see in the voting patterns of urban centres, especially Kampala and Wakiso. NRM was humiliated.  All these developments have heightened the country's sense of optimism that voters can be engaged meaningfully to produce results.  

We have  other positive signs to justify this optimism.  For the first time, the sectarian language that characterised Ugandan politics at the national level has almost become a thing of the past. This time round, we never heard it in candidate debates and campaigns as used to be the case in the past.   Whenever this language was used, it was in low tones, and very localised. Instead we were treated to loud battles of ideas and policy options from the candidates, as witnessed in the presidential debates.  This is no mean achievement in an African country.

The mood of most Ugandans is buoyant because of these achievements by our electoral process, and because of the feeling that for now, the worst is behind us and that it is time to plan ahead. The dark spot remains the refusal by the opposition to accept the outcome of the election over allegations that it was "a sham and doctored by the Electoral Commission (EC)".

While contesting election results is normal in any democratic system, the route being used by these opposition politicians is disturbing. By ignoring the acceptable route of seeking redress through the courts of law, most people are left wondering what else could be up their sleeve.

This stance, besides inconveniencing the population with the perpetual threat of city riots hanging over their heads,  is disruptive to the democratic process which is beginning to take root in the country.

By discrediting the institutions like the EC, the Police and the Judiciary, which are constitutionally mandated to conduct elections and to offer redress to the aggrieved parties, and by imputing dishonourable motives in the way these institutions carry out their work, the opposition has boxed itself in a corner. For now they are not offering a credible alternative to resolve the impasse.  

Working with limited resources, the EC was able to undertake the painstaking job of handling over nine million voters while overseeing 200,000 polling officials in over 28,000 polling stations in just two days. This is no mean task for an organisation that is not funded to the required levels. There are issues of inadequate training, logistical bottlenecks and time constraints, all of which the EC had to contend with.

But that is the best option the country had at its disposal under the circumstances.  As the one time American Secretary of Defence, Ronald Rumsfeld, once said during his country's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: "You go to war with the army you have". Uganda can't go to Europe to ask for another EC to run its election.

In an evolving democracy, the best we can do is to content ourselves with what we have so far achieved, as we continue to seal the loopholes that may still exist in our system.

But in the meantime, people have to eat, children have to go to school, tourists have to come to Uganda, the economy has to run and we have to pay our taxes.  For that matter, let the opposition come out of the trenches and seek redress through the established system. 

Engagement, not defiance holds the key to the success of democracy in this country and we have to nurture it.  After all, as the old adage goes, "This is no elevator to success, we all have to take the stairs".  Both the Government and the opposition have no choice but to take this route together so as to empower the ordinary Ugandan to continue being the winner in all future elections.

The author is a publisher