Poll probe must stay on track

AFTER the controversy over its membership, the parliamentary select committee on elections begins its probe in earnest today. The committee chaired by Augustine Nshimye (Mityana South) was mandated by Parliament to look probe all aspects of our electoral system and to make recommendations for the elimination of vices like violence, vote-buying and rigging.The committee’s terms of reference give it wide latitude to cover all recent elections from the presidential, parliamentary to the just concluded local council polls. Several witnesses including the Electoral Commission boss Haji Aziz Kasujja and his predecessor Stephen Akabway are scheduled to appear before it. The committee is also scheduled to traverse the country to collect memoranda. Members of the public who have complaints about, and suggestions for improving the electoral are encouraged to help the committee in its work. They can either submit memoranda or appear before it as witnesses.However, the committee cannot afford to ignore the misgivings that have been raised about it. There has been concern that the committee might be bogged down by self-interest because of the very nature of its composition. Some people have raised concern about how MPs are going to fairly probe a process in which they have all been involved, some of them with pending Court cases. The inherent conflict of interest here must be acknowledged and addressed. All committee members must stick to the rule, adopted last week that prohibits members from turning into witnesses. For it to be credible, the committee must be fair to all and not be driven by prejudice and post-election vendetta. Most importantly, whatever their findings, the MPs must realise that the focus should now be on the future. Instead of digging up old wounds the committee should focus on improving our young but steadily growing democracy.