Why public officers equally have freedom of association

By Eva Arinaitwe

On November 29, 2016 and recently on February 2, 2017 both in the New Vision newspaper Members of Parliament on the Local Government Public Accounts Committee (LGPAC) asked the Government to disband the Associations of Public officers sighting violation of Public Standing Orders. 

The right of people to organise themselves into Associations is enshrined in the Constitution of Uganda 1995 as amended and for emphasis Article 29 provides;

Every person has a right to

(b) Freedom of association which includes the freedom to form and join associations or unions like trade unions or other political and public organisations.

This right has been further recognised and adopted into the Public Standing Orders 2010 under part G that provides;

Public officers are free to:

 >> join specialist or group associations open to everybody resident in or outside Uganda provided such bodies concern themselves with purely professional, recreational, religious, cultural or sporting activities;
   
>> establish or join associations whose membership is restricted to Public officers but which are mainly concerned with specialized, professional or group interests;          

There is, however, a limitation that stops them from joining certain grouping with motives as stated in Section 5 of Part G;

In accordance with the law, some categories of public officers involved in the administration of the state are debarred from forming or joining a labour union or engaging in trade union activities or using trade union practices or tactics in any matter concerning their employment.

The above provisions present a clear distinction between Associations and Labour Union or engaging in Trade Union activities. What is prohibited for some public officers is the engaging or forming Labour or Trade Unions and not associations in general. Therefore, all public officers retain their right to form or join Associations as long as they are not Trade Unions, Labour Unions or they [Public Officers] are not using the tactics of the above.

The statement; "there is no reason why government employees should have Associations. It is against the standing orders." Is, therefore, contrary to the Constitution and is grossly inaccurate, misleading and is an abrogation of the rights of public officers as persons recognised by law.

 The Associations of CAOs, Finance officers, Internal Auditors are not governed by the Labour Unions Act, and therefore they are not Labour Unions and therefore fall outside the prohibition of section 5 of the Public Standing Orders prohibiting formation or joining Labour Unions by public officer involved in administration of the state.

However, the Associations fall under Section 8 because these Associations are for professional activities, and/or are restricted to public officers with specialized professionals such as the internal auditors, or finance officers, or in the case of the CAOs group interest or similar social interests.

It is clear upon a reading of these group constitutions that the only interest that is common to the individuals is to serve the nation and improve the quality of the work they engage in - and not to connivance or corruption.

On the other hand, the wild claim Chairperson LGPAC to assert that the Brigadiers association would be comparable to any of the associations in question is not only a misguided but also inapplicable to the situationbecause they are not public officers, but the army, these two categories are under two different legal standings in regard to employment.

The comments made regarding Associations have not been substantiated and therefore there is no proof or evidence to support the claim that the Associations are used for corruption purposes.

There has been no link shown between work done by a contractor in Gulu or Kiruhura as ‘fake' and the Associations mentioned as being involved. This is work sanctioned by the District not the Association as they lack such power or mandate. There is a proper channel and procedure for how these works are awarded and this in no way involves any Association mentioned. Such sweeping and unsubstantiated claims only serve to damage the image of all public officers and Local Governments which exist to bring services closer to the people of Uganda.

Our recommendation is that LGPAC should come up with better guidelines to regulate and guide the operations of these various Associations instead of calling for actions that infringe on the Fundamental and Constitutional rights and Freedoms of the Associations as institutions and Public Officers as individuals

The writer is the Secretary General Uganda Local Governments Association