Museveni has not rigged in the past nor will he in future
Sep 08, 2009
A lot has been said about the recent reappointment of the Electoral Commission. In the <i>Saturday Vision</i> September 5, Justice Kanyeihamba was quoted to have said: “Politics is like a football match.
By Moses Byaruhanga
A lot has been said about the recent reappointment of the Electoral Commission. In the Saturday Vision September 5, Justice Kanyeihamba was quoted to have said: “Politics is like a football match.
If one team which is participating were to select the referee, the linesmen and even the match commissioners, how would you say this is a fair match?â€
Kanyeihamba was speaking on Voice of America TV programme, Straight Talk moderated by Shaka Sali which is relayed live on WBS.
Others like Bidandi Ssali have also echoed their views against reappointment of the Electoral Commission (EC). FDC has been organising civic disapproval of the EC. Prof. Kanyeihamba’s criticism is based on the fact that the commission is appointed by the President who is eligible to offer himself as a candidate.
According to him for that reason, the EC will be biased in favour of the person who appointed it. I would least expect such talk from a Justice of the Supreme Court let alone Prof. Kanyeihamba.
The professor is known for his criticism of the regime and even judging against President Museveni in the electoral petitions against the presidential elections of 2001 and 2006. Kanyeihamba was appointed justice of the Supreme Court by President Museveni. If he can rule against the person who appointed him, which he is entitled too as a judge, why then does he not think that the EC cannot organise a fair election without favouring the person who appointed them? For Kanyeihamba it is even worse.
Before his appointment as a judge, he served as an MP and constituency assembly openly supporting the Movement. Besides, he served as a Minister of commerce, Attorney general and presidential adviser. If anybody is to go by justice Kanyeihamba’s logic that the commission appointed by the President will favour him or it cannot be neutral, no one would have expected a former Museveni’s advisor and minister to rule against Museveni.
I do not have to be misunderstood that Prof. Kanyeihamba should not have ruled against President Museveni, I am only using his logic that a person appointed by President Museveni cannot be neutral in exercise of his or her functions in conducting an exercise where Museveni is a participant.
On the other hand if justice Kanyeihamba, having served in the Museveni government, can make independent judgments as a judge, then the electoral commissioners appointed by the President as provided for in the constitution can too be neutral in the conduct of elections where President Museveni is a candidate.
The judge, as pointed out above was in the Constituent Assembly that discussed and promulgated the constitution. It is that very constitution whose making Kanyeihamba was part of which gives the President powers to appoint judges, members of commissions and many other appointments. What has since gone wrong professor? Does Kanyeihamba propose any other method how the electoral commission should be appointed?
The FDC, with other parties, recently presented a petition to the Speaker of Parliament where they proposed that the EC should be appointed by the Judicial Service Commission with the approval of parliament. This was to answer the same concerns of Kanyeihamba. Prof. Foster Byarugaba used to tell us in political science lectures at Makerere University that common sense was not common.
He was right. If you want to stop the President from appointing the commission on account that it will be biased in favour of the one who appointed them, why then propose the judicial commission to be the one to appoint the EC? Who appoints the judicial commission?
Is it not the President? If the EC can be accused of favouring the person who appointed it, the same reasoning should affect the judicial commission that in appointing the EC as proposed by the opposition parties, they will appoint people who will favour the one who appointed the Judicial Service Commission.
To make matters worse, the opposition proposed that members of the EC appointed by the Judicial Service Commission should be approved by Parliament whose majority is NRM which Museveni chairs. What is the opposition really attempting to solve?
There is also a debate that the EC should have been changed because the Supreme Court found out that there were non-compliance with the law in the 2006 elections. While it is true that in the past elections the Supreme Court found non-compliance with the law, court made recommendations. What is imperative is for the EC to put the said recommendations in practice.
Some of the issues like ballot stuffing were found in seven polling stations whose results the EC cancelled. There were also cases of people who had been removed from the register including NRM supporters.
The EC argued that they had been removed in accordance with the law, that is, being removed by parish chiefs on account that they had either died, or changed residence. The question should now be how should people be removed from the register if chiefs are biased or remove wrong people?
On the fears raised by Bidandi, he should be rest assured that President Museveni does not organise or plan to rig elections. In the 1996 and 2001 presidential elections, Bidandi was vice chairperson of the elect Museveni national task force, to which I was the secretary.
Bidandi knows that never, at any one time, did we ever plan to rig, or rig those elections despite the fact that Besigye petitioned in 2001. Bidandi, nothing has changed, Museveni has not rigged in the past and will not rig in the future.
On reforms, it is on the record that NRM brought reforms that include voting in the open, free nominations, counting votes at a polling station in the presence of voters, photographic registers to avoid ghost voters, tallying of results in the presence of candidates’ agents and announcing results within two days.
If any party has its agents at each polling station and collects all its results duly signed by the polling official at the polling station, however biased the EC might be, it cannot change the number of votes that party or candidate would have obtained. If Bidandi and others have any reform to propose, put it on the table.
The writer is the special presidential assistant on political affairs
A lot has been said about the recent reappointment of the Electoral Commission. In the Saturday Vision September 5, Justice Kanyeihamba was quoted to have said: “Politics is like a football match.
If one team which is participating were to select the referee, the linesmen and even the match commissioners, how would you say this is a fair match?â€
Kanyeihamba was speaking on Voice of America TV programme, Straight Talk moderated by Shaka Sali which is relayed live on WBS.
Others like Bidandi Ssali have also echoed their views against reappointment of the Electoral Commission (EC). FDC has been organising civic disapproval of the EC. Prof. Kanyeihamba’s criticism is based on the fact that the commission is appointed by the President who is eligible to offer himself as a candidate.
According to him for that reason, the EC will be biased in favour of the person who appointed it. I would least expect such talk from a Justice of the Supreme Court let alone Prof. Kanyeihamba.
The professor is known for his criticism of the regime and even judging against President Museveni in the electoral petitions against the presidential elections of 2001 and 2006. Kanyeihamba was appointed justice of the Supreme Court by President Museveni. If he can rule against the person who appointed him, which he is entitled too as a judge, why then does he not think that the EC cannot organise a fair election without favouring the person who appointed them? For Kanyeihamba it is even worse.
Before his appointment as a judge, he served as an MP and constituency assembly openly supporting the Movement. Besides, he served as a Minister of commerce, Attorney general and presidential adviser. If anybody is to go by justice Kanyeihamba’s logic that the commission appointed by the President will favour him or it cannot be neutral, no one would have expected a former Museveni’s advisor and minister to rule against Museveni.
I do not have to be misunderstood that Prof. Kanyeihamba should not have ruled against President Museveni, I am only using his logic that a person appointed by President Museveni cannot be neutral in exercise of his or her functions in conducting an exercise where Museveni is a participant.
On the other hand if justice Kanyeihamba, having served in the Museveni government, can make independent judgments as a judge, then the electoral commissioners appointed by the President as provided for in the constitution can too be neutral in the conduct of elections where President Museveni is a candidate.
The judge, as pointed out above was in the Constituent Assembly that discussed and promulgated the constitution. It is that very constitution whose making Kanyeihamba was part of which gives the President powers to appoint judges, members of commissions and many other appointments. What has since gone wrong professor? Does Kanyeihamba propose any other method how the electoral commission should be appointed?
The FDC, with other parties, recently presented a petition to the Speaker of Parliament where they proposed that the EC should be appointed by the Judicial Service Commission with the approval of parliament. This was to answer the same concerns of Kanyeihamba. Prof. Foster Byarugaba used to tell us in political science lectures at Makerere University that common sense was not common.
He was right. If you want to stop the President from appointing the commission on account that it will be biased in favour of the one who appointed them, why then propose the judicial commission to be the one to appoint the EC? Who appoints the judicial commission?
Is it not the President? If the EC can be accused of favouring the person who appointed it, the same reasoning should affect the judicial commission that in appointing the EC as proposed by the opposition parties, they will appoint people who will favour the one who appointed the Judicial Service Commission.
To make matters worse, the opposition proposed that members of the EC appointed by the Judicial Service Commission should be approved by Parliament whose majority is NRM which Museveni chairs. What is the opposition really attempting to solve?
There is also a debate that the EC should have been changed because the Supreme Court found out that there were non-compliance with the law in the 2006 elections. While it is true that in the past elections the Supreme Court found non-compliance with the law, court made recommendations. What is imperative is for the EC to put the said recommendations in practice.
Some of the issues like ballot stuffing were found in seven polling stations whose results the EC cancelled. There were also cases of people who had been removed from the register including NRM supporters.
The EC argued that they had been removed in accordance with the law, that is, being removed by parish chiefs on account that they had either died, or changed residence. The question should now be how should people be removed from the register if chiefs are biased or remove wrong people?
On the fears raised by Bidandi, he should be rest assured that President Museveni does not organise or plan to rig elections. In the 1996 and 2001 presidential elections, Bidandi was vice chairperson of the elect Museveni national task force, to which I was the secretary.
Bidandi knows that never, at any one time, did we ever plan to rig, or rig those elections despite the fact that Besigye petitioned in 2001. Bidandi, nothing has changed, Museveni has not rigged in the past and will not rig in the future.
On reforms, it is on the record that NRM brought reforms that include voting in the open, free nominations, counting votes at a polling station in the presence of voters, photographic registers to avoid ghost voters, tallying of results in the presence of candidates’ agents and announcing results within two days.
If any party has its agents at each polling station and collects all its results duly signed by the polling official at the polling station, however biased the EC might be, it cannot change the number of votes that party or candidate would have obtained. If Bidandi and others have any reform to propose, put it on the table.
The writer is the special presidential assistant on political affairs