Relax Party Curbs Say Pm, Tumukunde

May 03, 2002

PRIME minister Apolo Nsibambi and Internal Security Organisation (ISO) chief Brig. Henry Tumukunde have called for the easing of restrictions on political party activities.

By Okello JabweliPRIME minister Apolo Nsibambi and Internal Security Organisation (ISO) chief Brig. Henry Tumukunde have called for the easing of restrictions on political party activities.The two made the call on Thursday night during a Movement Caucus meeting at the Kampala International Conference Centre. Sources at the meeting said Nsibambi recommended that parties be allowed to hold one meeting at the district level to elect delegates to the national delegates conference. He said political parties should also be allowed to hold district seminars to sensitise the public on various issues of interest to them. Under the present constitutional framework, party activities are restricted to national headquarters.The Caucus which had been convened to hammer out a common position on the Political Organisations Bill, however, failed to agree and will meet again on Sunday at 3:00pm.But the surprise package of the evening was Brig. Tumukunde. The ISO boss reportedly urged Movement leaders to make laws for posterity, saying the laws they are making now may haunt them when they eventually leave power. Citing the case of Grace Ibingira who was later held under the Detention Without Trial Act, which he had pushed through Parliament, Tumukunde said, “We should make laws for Uganda not laws that suit us as leaders.” In his brief address to the Caucus on Thursday, President Yoweri Museveni urged the MPs to respect the decision of the majority of Ugandans who have consistently voted for the Movement over the years. He called for greater cohesion within the Movement and hailed the MPs for supporting his stand on Kibaale. On the POB, Museveni said he trusts MPs to do the right thing. In an apparent reference to the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO), a new group comprising Movementists and multipartyists, Museveni discouraged cliques, saying they destroy causes. He reportedly promised to meet PAFO leaders. The President left shortly after his address for a scheduled meeting with investors.Nsibambi and Tumukunde’s position was supported by Jack Sabiti (Rukiga), Beatrice Kiraso (Kabarole), Kasule Lumumba (Bugiri) and Bernadette Bigirwa among others. Sabiti said parties should be allowed to operate up to the sub-county level. “At minimum they should be at the district level,” he is reported to have said. Capt. Francis Babu (Kampala Central) and Prof. Mondo Kagonyera (Rubabo) are among those who opposed any attempts to open up. Kagonyera is reported to have said he would like to meet his Creator before the Movement dies. Babu said the population is not ready for parties.The Sixth Parliament on February 6, 2001 passed the POB, which among other things, sought to allow the parties to operate at the district level. Museveni refused to assent to the POB and sent it back to the 6th Parliament. Parliament failed to reconsider the Bill up to the time its term of office expired in July 2001. The President wants the activities of political parties limited to their respective headquarters.The committee on legal and parliamentary affairs headed by Adolf Mwesige (Bunyangabu), has asked Parliament to allow the political parties and organisations to open ‘coordination’ offices and to hold meetings at the district level.“The Bill in Clause 21 seeks to restrict all activities of the political parties and organisations to national level with the exception of seminars to district level. This position is not consistent with Article 73(2), which enjoins Parliament to prescribe regulations which will not exceed what is necessary for enabling the political system adopted to operate,” the report says.“The committee will at an appropriate time move amendments to allow political parties and organisations to hold conferences, executive and annual meetings, seminars and to open coordination offices at district level,” adds the report. Museveni, in an April 10, 2001 letter to then Speaker Francis Ayume, said political parties should restrict their activities to national headquarters.“Pursuant to Article 91(3)(b) of the Constitution, I hereby return the Bill to you for reconsideration of section 21,” said Museveni in the letter which was circulated to MPs yesterday.“In line with the decision of the National Executive Committee and the National Conference of the Movement, party activities should be restricted to national headquarters. “Political organisations, therefore, should not be allowed to operate at district level and below until enough consensus has been generated on this matter,” Museveni added.He said he would assent to the POB “after this matter has been reconsidered.” Parties have since 1986 been barred from opening branches at all levels, holding rallies and delegates conferences and sponsoring candidates in national elections.The Movement’s National Executive Committee, in its five-point resolutions adopted last December at the end of a meeting at Kyankwanzi, advised Parliament “not to allow opening of political party offices below the national level.”NEC also stopped the political party debate by the Movement leaders in open fora in order “to give a chance to people to submit their views to the Constitutional Review Commission without bias.”Ends

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