Pure Good Governance

In size, it is four times bigger than Uganda but with slightly less than 2.3 million people. Population-wise, you would say that Uganda is 15 times more densely populated than Namibia, also formerly known as South West Africa.  Home to the Namib and Kalahari Deserts, Namibia held its fifth presidential elections on 28 th  November 2014 amidst an aura of peace and composure that would pass for that gentle breeze blowing from its neighboring Atlantic ocean. Weeks to the Election Day, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) was hit by the reality of lack of enough vehicles to transport the polling material and personnel across the country during the polling period. To complement its existing vehicles, ECN put out a call to ‘well-wishers’ to offer their 4x4 vehicles for use. A total of 270 private cars were needed to guarantee the smooth flow of operations.  Just days after the call, ECN received over 2,000 vehicles from private individuals happy and willing to offer b...

If there is one exercise in Uganda’s electoral cycle that has always bred contestation around elections and election outcome, it is the process of compiling or updating the national voter register. Many times, this contestation has been because of the insufficient time and attention allocated to the making and/or cleaning the voters’ register.  We can trace this as far back as in the processes leading up to the1996 general elections.  According to the EC’s Strategic Plan 2013-2017, the general update of the voters register at parish level was scheduled to commence in September this year – this is yet to begin. Many times, questions around the independence and impartiality of the EC have been linked directly to the Commission’s actions and inactions in failing to address the problems related to voter registration. In 2001, there were questions around the incredibly high number of voters on the national voters register; out of Uganda’s 22 million p...

Pure Good Governance: This why contenders should invest a lot more in re... : There is a general assertion that the Ugandan electorate is feeble when it comes to discussing real policy issues especia...

There is a general assertion that the Ugandan electorate is feeble when it comes to discussing real policy issues especially during political campaigns.  Candidates vying for various positions normally take advantage of this inherent supposition to churn out campaign content which is less on policy issues but high on sensationalism and spot-on when it comes to posturing personality over politics.  However, if the above presumption is anything to go by, then it may be somewhat inconsistent with (again) the much-peddled narrative that Ugandans have in previous elections ‘voted’ for those candidates who have consistently sold security as their main campaign platform.   Whatever the case may be, the truth remains, the rhetoric of previous political campaigns has been very light on real issues affecting Ugandans.  I use the word ‘rhetoric’ precisely to stress the point that many times there is always a glaring disconnect between what is contained in...

I have come to the conclusion that the running court-based contestations around the Kampala Mayor and his legitimacy (or the lack of it) to occupy the Mayor’s office are neither issues of a legal nor an administrative nature but simply political machinations with clearly calculated moves that are well designed to deliver a certain premeditated outcome. Over the last one year, the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago has strove to hold on to his Mayoral turf amidst various waves of political and legal turbulence.  Between being removed from the office on disputed administrative grounds on 25 th November 2013, the mayor has regained and lost the same office through unrelenting court battles countless times – including regaining the office for barely three hours sometime late last year.    The most recent court manoeuvres involved a panel of five judges of the Supreme Court, ruling that Lukwago waits to return to KCCA until the Court of Appeal hears the matter involving him...

It is not surprising that the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) fair has become one of the biggest annual events in Uganda where NGOs and other civil society groups showcase their products to the local, regional and international community.  Last week, I described what a CSO fair looks like here in Uganda to an Ethiopian government officer based in Addis Ababa.  And his reaction neither surprised me nor shocked me; he asked what there is for civil society to show case.  “Is it the signed ‘transport refund’ lists or is it the academic non-practical publications that they spend their energies working on? How do they showcase ‘workshops’? May be you are talking about showcasing the huge 4X4 gas guzzling automobiles that their employees ride in”.  He grinned after interjecting in a conversation that I thought was too serious to attract such presumptuous interposes.     Anyhow, just like him, many other folks think there is really northing to exhibit...

As I approached the first polling station to witness the opening of the poll I noticed something conspicuous; over fifty armed military officers, searching and questioning each voter or any one who attempted to enter the school, which housed the polling station. Four armored personnel carriers stood strategically at the four corners of the double storied primary school and at the roof-top were well positioned discreet snipers each attentively attending to their ‘state of the art’ long range rifles.  I had to stop and ask locals whether there was actually a polling station located in this school or if the education facility had been turned into a military base of sorts; it surely looked like a planning site for the ‘operation lightning thunder’.   Amidst all this, it looked like it was only me that was approaching the polling station with fears and judders; everyone else walked self-assuredly to the swam of armed security folks, got searched and proceeded ...