Plight of the poor has been ignored

Oct 17, 2004

Going by media reports, the debate on the government white paper on the proposed amendments to the 1995 Constitution is not balanced.

Alex Ndeezi

Going by media reports, the debate on the government white paper on the proposed amendments to the 1995 Constitution is not balanced.

Emotional issues with no real impact on the living conditions of the ordinary citizen have taken centre stage while critical issues which address the plight of the majority of the poor and marginalised have been relegated to the periphery. One such issue that has not been in the limelight, but not adequately handled is the question of the empowerment of women and historically marginalised groups in this country.

The movement government may have made some mistake here and there, but even its most critical opponents agree that it has championed the most effective crusade for emancipation of women and other marginalised groups. It is because of the achievements made in this area that Uganda is constantly cited as a role model in addressing gender issues and those of marginalised groups like the People with Disabilities (PWDs), youth, and children. However, a look at the white paper from a gender perspective reveals a mixture of positive signals and a very serious flaw which overshadows the gains already made by Uganda.

The White paper proposes to merge the functions of the Equal Opportunities Commission and those of the Human Rights Commission (UHRC). The effect of this proposal is the abolition of the Equal Opportunities Commission established by article 32(2) of the 1995 Uganda Constitution.

The Commission is intended to operationalise article 32(1) which requires the state to take affirmative action in favour of the marginalised groups on the basis of gender, age, disability or any reason created by history, tradition or custom, for the purpose redressing imbalances which exist against them.

Apparently, the wise framers of the 1995 Uganda Constitution were aware that without a body with specific mandate to operationalise or implement or cause to implement article 32(1) the principles of affirmative action enshrined in the Constitution would remain meaningless.

In spite of the CRC’s recommendation and the Cabinet’s suggestion, the proposal that UHRC should assume the additional roles of implementing the Equal Opportunities provisions is bad, misconceived and contravenes the stated government commitment to the empowerment of women and other marginalised groups.

The Equal Opportunities Commission should be established as an independent body and not a mere appendage of any machinery. The cause of marginalisation and denial of equal opportunities vary from culture, tradition, religion and history.

All these dimensions need to be teased out, analysed and addressed in a coherent manner. There is therefore a need for a special body with membership and staffing which possess the required technical knowledge and skills. In Uganda, discrimination is a glaring issue often practised with impunity. Discrimination manifests itself in different ways against different persons or sections of society and infringes on people’s human rights. Subsequently, discrimination reduces opportunities of those affected to contribute productively to the development process.

The Constitution makers recognised that certain groups in society are marginalised on the basis of gender, age, sex, disability or other reasons created by history, tradition or custom. They therefore provide for the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission in the Constitution. So why not ensure the fulfilment of this constitutional obligation?

Our progress and advancement depends on availability of equal opportunities for all. Rights cannot be given to the disadvantaged while withholding the opportunities. For example, though a girl-child in a male dominated society has rights, it is not enough to say that she is equal to men without any added opportunity. While the right to education is every child’s right, this does not necessarily mean every child is able to go to school. The children of nomadic pastoralist communities need to attain education as well, through an education set-up that corresponds to their itinerant nature.

All this calls for creating equal opportunities as well as guaranteeing human rights. Policy documents like PEAP, PMA, SDIP and Education Sector Strategic Plan recognise the disadvantaged positions of certain vulnerable groups.

However, their prospected interventions have not address the root cause of the disadvantaged position of these groups, for example women’s access to land in the PMA. The establishment of an independent Equal Opportunities Commission will provide an appropriate intervention to address such issues.

The task of addressing marginalisation and denial requires knowledge, skills and experience. These are built over time. To generate knowledge and skills, one requires an institutional framework. The Equal Opportunities Commission is in this case the required institutional framework. The existing UHRC framework is inadequate, fragmented, too overstretched and under-funded to address issues of discrimination in society. Issues of equal opportunities cut across all sectors — civil, political, social and economic.

All these issues need a body whose mandate spans all such sectors in order to coordinate the necessary interventions. The government of Uganda set up institutional mechanisms, such as the UHRC to address human rights issues of various vulnerable groups. However, the UHRC, by its very nature, is primarily concerned with the basic task of putting an end to the prevailing condition of human rights violations. Countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Sweden and USA have achieved a lot out of their established Equal Opportunities Commissions while implementing specific non-discriminative legislation, policies and programmes. It is of crucial importance to our progress as a modern nation to strive for the establishment of an independent Equal Opportunities Commission with full mandate to cater for the needs of the marginalised.

Uganda is a signatory to various international conventions which have human rights at the forefront. In spite of this, the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission is long overdue, yet it is the body with the special mandate to effect substantive equality for the marginalised groups.

It is significant to note that of all the commissions provided for in the 1995 Uganda Constitution, it is only the Equal Opportunities Commission that has not been instituted to-date. This raises doubts as to whether Uganda has the political will to seriously address concerns of marginalised groups. We need a Commission that is reactive and which caters for the needs of the marginalised. The Commission will, among others, enhance realisation of the following objectives:

-To ensure the implementation of the commitments that the government has covenanted nationally and internationally regarding non-discrimination and equality of rights and opportunities.

-To promote equality of rights and opportunities

-To reduce structural inequalities in the political economic, social, cultural, legal and all other spheres of life.

It is crucial to note that a draft equal opportunities bill and policy are already in place and that large sums of donor funds have already been sunk into the process of consultations and drafting the equal opportunities bill and policy.

It is thus contrary to logic to reverse this process which has already attracted so much support.

The writer is vice chairperson of the parliamentary committee
on Equal Opportunities

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