Banning independents is no solution to party cohesion

Jun 28, 2009

THE movement central executive committee is said to be pondering introducing universal adult suffrage in electing their flag bearers for parliamentary and local councils. This will go a long way in bringing in popular leaders within the Ugandan leadership

By John Banalya

THE movement central executive committee is said to be pondering introducing universal adult suffrage in electing their flag bearers for parliamentary and local councils. This will go a long way in bringing in popular leaders within the Ugandan leadership and will strengthen the movement party.

I challenge other political parties in Uganda to follow suit and compete at grassroots to give the country responsive popular leaders.

I applaud those who are positively thinking in this direction, more so President Museveni who is reported to be championing this change.
Universal adult suffrage in primary election has made America the bastion of democracy and encouraged many Americans to think positively towards their political system.

The system has delivered very powerful leaders who may not have surfaced if the college system of Britain was adopted in America.

Apart from well-known Barack Obama, the US universal adult suffrage primaries have delivered men like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the powerful California governor who was a migrant from Austria and hardly spoke English.
The same has delivered men like Bobby Jindal whose Indian background has not hindered him from becoming the Governor of Louisiana and is said to be Presidential material to the charm of the Republican Party.

It should also be noted that Michael Stephen Steele, a black American and the current chairman of the Republican Party would not have attained that post if he was not voted in by the republican grassroots as most of the electoral college operatives are perceived to be white supremacists.

His leadership is re-shaping the republican party in a positive way, that recently he reigned on the extremists who were attacking President Obamas’ nominee to the supreme court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

The extremists had began attacking her as biased against the white race and were not happy that a lady of Hispanic descent could be nominated to a life-time job as a member of the US Federal supreme court bench. This is good for America and should be good for Uganda.

The fear of the cost of these primaries should not arise as the cost of an unpopular leader being in power is higher to a level of people frustrating his development initiatives.

The universal adult suffrage election in primaries is most likely to make parliamentarians more responsive to their party members and will go a long way in making politicians believe in their parties and feel that they are equals, despite lacking influence with the top leadership.

However, as universal adult suffrage is introduced in the primaries, it would be a grave error for the movement to champion the banning of independents within Ugandan politics.

I consider that a thoughtless and retrogressive step for anyone to take. What a party can do is to reasonably discipline a member who decides to stand as an independent after losing a primary and using party resources. He can be suspended indefinitely from the party as his/her action of being a maverick is tantamounts to betrayal.

However, there are people whose total thinking does not specifically belong to any party. For instance a politician may be in favour of the NRM education policy and not in favour of the foreign policy NRM is taking and may prefer the FDC position. Such a leader should be allowed to register as an independent as it is his freedom to do so. A good example in US politics is Joe Lieberman.

He was former VP Al Gore’s vice-Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 2000. But eight years later, he found himself not agreeing with the Democratic Party policy on Iraq. He supported the Invasion of Iraq at any cost and looked more Republican than Democrat.

His beliefs were deeply rooted in his descent as a Jew and strong supporter of Israel. This irked the leadership of the Democratic Party. It smoked him out by funding his opponent in the primaries. But Lieberman went a head to stand as an independent. The Democratic Party expelled him but he won the senate seat and works as an Independent.

However, in the Senate apart from security bills, Lieberman is more reliable on Democratic-sponsored bills than many senators who are holding their seats with the blessing of the Democratic Party. Thus, overreaction to dissenting views to a level of banning is no solution in politics. In democratic politics there should be tolerance and free will of the people.

Otherwise you will end up with a scenario where Parliamentarians absent themselves for fear of voting on controversial party positions. What universal adult suffrage is going to bring is that popular leaders will be the flag bearer and will defeat any other person who may attempt to stand as an Independent.

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