Pure Good Governance

Come 2016, Uganda will go to the polls with yet again the question of an unresolved “legal map”.    Whereas we may boast of having had a “road map” several years before the next election, the “legal map” for the 2016 election has again not been clearly defined especially to the people’s expectations.    The boarders and boundaries of this “legal map” have since 2001 been a big issue – with several stakeholders unremittingly      suggesting how this can be plugged, but in vain.      Since 2001, one of the highlights of each subsequent election cycle has always been to postpone concrete electoral reforms – talk about shelving a problem and deferring a solution.    That is exactly what it has been!    Someone else could look at it differently; the small incremental reforms that have been undertaken since the early 2000s could be seen as mere soothers to a serious malignancy.    Of what use would it be to ...

The fresh-faced dynamism with which Ugandans are gearing up for next year’s election, makes 2016 one of the most important elections capable of re-writing the political script of Uganda, post independence.    At this point, you probably cannot be forgiven for thinking that this is going to be just like any other election.    It is not.    Some of the circumstantial issues to blame include the likelihood of having either some new serious contenders or contenders with new serious energy as compared to the previous elections.    Just that anecdotal occurrence is more than likely to inject a fresh lease of verve in what has been typically described as an ‘apathetic’ electorate.    Actually, I think it has already done so – some acquaintances who I would casually say have always been cynical and indifferent about politics in the past years are getting psyched up already (only hoping that, that vim will translate into actual meaningful part...

We live in a business world today, where the concept of competition has gained a lot of prominence.   Entrepreneurs are cutting their teeth in matching the competitors in their space.   And because of this environment, creativity, innovation, invention, name it are becoming so staple in today’s business world.   The doctrines of business that were once confined to the economic society have gradually spread into the social and political drapery.   Attempts to be democratic or appear to be democratic in many societies have further exhilarated the spirit of political competition – painting politics as a field exclusive to only those able to withstand the “heat”.   Political competition in itself is not bad and therefore we shouldn’t groan under the strain of competitive politics but rather sanitize that competition to ensure that every member of society feels confident and respected to participate in politics both at a political party level and at the national le...

The 2015/2016 general elections are probably going to be the most crucial elections that Uganda has seen in its post independence era.  Besides coming hot on the heels of an already tensed up electoral terrain, these are going to be the first elections in which most (if not all) of the eligible voters aged 18 years and above will be on the voters’ register and capable of voting.  Thanks to the Electoral Commission’s decision to extract eligible voters’ particulars from the National Identification Register!  If well managed, the 2016 voters' register will be the first, most inclusive register, carrying all eligible Ugandans on the voters’ roll.   Now, you may wonder how this will change the political contours of Uganda. Unlike in the past elections where we have had large numbers of voters missing out on the actual voting because they weren’t listed on the register, 2016 is going to be an election where all eligible voters will actually be on the voters' regist...

The 2008 Zimbabwe election has been one of the most hotly contested races on the African continent in recent times. In that election, the  twenty-eight year political rule of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic  Front (ZANU–PF) was stiffly challenged by new comer, Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T). The tight nature of the race could not avail Zimbabwe an outright President in the first round, a reason why a run-off was called later in the year. As fate would have it then, Mugabe (aka ‘Uncle Bob’) beat Tsvangirai. Many have contended by all intents and purposes that this was Tsvangirai’s election.  These sentiments partly informed the latter occurrences where the Zimbabwe government of 2008 – 2013 had to be shared between ‘Uncle Bob’ and Tsvangirai through a government of national unity arrangement.   Having had an opportunity to interface with the subsequent 2013 Zimbabwe election first ha...

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...