the Humanist view

“A very flawed or rather failing system indeed. I like that you put these statistics into perspective from the elections. I’m always echoing to people that the opposition needs to stop diluting itself with all the rifts and divisions, but rather unite and consolidate a clear majority of the electorate.” Mike256

Misdirected Priorities

While 71 percent of the nation’s budget for fighting the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in the country is not funded; the time and resources that Uganda is investing in parliamentary campaigns and in elections is huge.

How does this make sense?

What is the role of a member of parliament (MP) in Uganda that Ugandans are okay with the huge costs involved in electing and maintaining one?

If you consider unpopular legislation that MPs have occasioned and in some cases in clear defiance of their respective electorates, how does the cost to elect MPs make sense?

Skewed Parliament

There are indications, moreover, that election of new MPs further strengthens the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in parliament.

The dynamics in parliament are seemingly not changed by new entrants. Both in terms of numeric strength and in ideological persuasion.

“Parliament is a cost center rather than an ideas one” gives further insights into the dynamics of Uganda’s parliament. CLICK HERE to read it.

Myth of political representation

Take for instance parliamentary elections of Bugiri Municipality and Arua Municipality. Whereas, opposition politicians won the seats in both constituencies, they did so with narrow margins.

• Hon. Asuman Basalirwa, Party President of Justice Forum JEEMA, won the Bugiri seat getting 48 percent of the valid votes cast
• Hon. Kassiano Wadri, a FDC leaning Independent, won the Arua seat by getting 38 percent of the valid votes that were cast.

Meaning that both did not win over 50 percent of the voters who voted.

The voter turnout, moreover, in Bugiri was about 50 percent of the registered voters and in Arua it was about 42 percent of registered voters.

In essence, it means, therefore, that Hon. Basalirwa has a clear mandate from only 24 percent of the registered voters of Bugiri; while Hon. Wadri has a clear mandate from only 16 percent of the registered voters of Arua.

NRM candidates closely came second in both constituencies, Bugiri and Arua.

How is it and why is it that the opposition does not get landslide victories in their strong holds, the urban constituencies, even in an environment of unpopular NRM legislation?

If you contextualize opposition wins in urban constituencies within the popular belief that the opposition, particularly so the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), are strong in urban areas, then the narrow margin wins of the opposition are concerning.

It is valid to surmise that in Bugiri and in Arua, the NRM did not lose its voter base, but rather it is the Dr. Kiiza Besigye faction of FDC that lost its voter base.

“Which political party is getting stronger in Uganda?” gives insights into they myth of political representation in the era of multi-party political dispensation. CLICK HERE to read the post.

Afterall, during the campaigns in both Bugiri and Arua, the more pointed verbal artillery was exchanged among and between opposition political parties; and among and between opposition candidates. Revealing huge rifts within each opposition party and among opposition parties as a whole.

How does one expect that the huge rifts in and among opposition parties do not transfer to the business of parliament?

How then can the opposition claim to be an alternative voice of the people that is positioned to take over leadership of the country and to govern within genuine democratic principles?

Where then is the value for money?

Time for a re-think

It is time that we re-think Uganda’s bastardized version of the Westminster governance model – which emphasizes parliament as the main governing body. Obviously, in Uganda it clearly isn’t.