Pure Good Governance

I was excited to hear that The Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was yet again in the house for another reading.  This comes hot on the heels of a survey, ‘Who Pays the Piper’ released by civil society recently in which money was underscored as a key ‘influencer’ in elections.  Many of the MPs interviewed in the course of this survey confirmed that the cost of competing for a parliamentary seat had increased almost ten times since 2001, they also expressed fears that only the “super rich” will be able to run for elective office if the cost for competing for parliamentary seats continues to rise at the same rate it has, over the last ten years.  It is commendable that progress is being made towards understanding the role of money in elections especially here in Uganda.  Just the other day, during the Busia LCV by-election, everyone – the NRM, the opposition and the EC were universally concerned about the amount as well as role of money bein...

Two stories drew my interest in The Daily Monitor last week. One was titled, “Police to use more militant methods” and the other was, “Patriotism trainees shoot two”.  These were run on 30 th and 31 st January respectively. The former re-emphasized how police plans to employ more militaristic tactics in the management of public order while the latter narrated an incident in which people undertaking the “patriotism training” shot two residents in Iganga district. Today, I will mainly limit myself to the police’ re-confirmation of its intentions to continue engaging military means while undertaking public order response.  My biggest worry, which could be a worry of many other Ugandans, is that the Police Force seems to have designated the Ugandan community as a violent community. Whereas this may not be an accurate portrayal of the Ugandan population, such a narrative is bound to indeed make Ugandans aggressive and confrontational especially tow...

Four years ago we went to an election with a lot of ‘unfinished business’. In fact, for many of the players in that election, their participation could have been nothing but a mere formality. The major issues that dogged the 2001 and the 2006 elections had not been addressed. At the center, was the need to guarantee the credibility of the voters register; address the question of people’s confidence in the election management body as well as tackle issues around the perceived partisanship and highhandedness of the security apparatus especially during election periods. These challenges continued unabated in a political environment where the effects of incumbency were lurid. Even though there was consensus around resolving these issues right from the 2001 elections, they didn’t make their way to parliament for legislative interrogation until less than a year to the 2011 elections. Even when Parliament opened up to a discussion around electoral reforms in 2010, the s...