[UAH] Appeal to the UNAA BOT ~ Ugandans At Heart (UAH)

Dear Members of the Board of Trustees,

On June 25th, the EC announced its rejection of my request for reducing the volunteer/candidate fees and it listed a number of grounds for the rejection. I would like the BOT to review the EC's decision and reverse it. Below is my response to the grounds cited by the EC for rejecting my request:

1. The Constitution allows the EC set volunteer fees but it doesn't give the EC free reign to set prohibitive fees.The fees have to be reasonable. I think prohibitive fees go beyond the mandate of the EC's fee setting powers if such fees seem to add an unconstitutional barrier/qualification for UNAA elective offices. If the EC sets prohibitive fees, that would be tantamount to saying that candidates for UNAA office have to be members that can afford the fees. That is not stated clearly stated in the constitution but the BOT has the role of interpreting the constitution.

On this issue, two questions face the BOT: a) can the EC set any amount that the EC wants? Supposing just 3 candidates run for office (as is the case so far), can the EC say that the 3 candidates come up with the $4,000? Clearly, the BOT can and should step in to reduce the proposed fees. b) the second question is: what is a reasonable fee? I believe that the reasonable fee is a nominal fee. I'll explain below.

2. The EC said that they want to create a system where many candidates can run. In my view, if you set very high fees, you are NOT creating a system for many candidates. Rather, you are limiting the number of candidates. Not every able leader will afford or want to pay the volunteer fees. We all saw what happened 2 years ago. More than half of the elective positions were not filled. All the candidates that run for Council positions were unopposed. Just 2 people run for each Executive position. Obviously candidate fees did not encourage members to run for office in 2011. There is no reason to believe that much higher fees in 2013 will succeed in attracting more candidates where the lower fees in 2011 did not.

In my own effort to encourage members to run for office, I have learned first hand that members do not want to pay the candidate fees. Though the EC mentioned that some members want fees to be higher, I have not seen any members that told me that they want to pay more! Though we are just 4 weeks away from the deadline for voter registration but only 3 candidates have come up. In other words, we have clear evidence that fees do not encourage more candidates to run.

3. The EC mentioned that election related expenses in 2011 run upwards of $4,000 and that candidate fees are not enough to run elections.

My view is that it is not the responsibility of candidates to pay for elections. It is the responsibility of UNAA to pay for elections. Elections are required by the constitution, they are called by UNAA, the EC is chosen by UNAA, etc.

I am not aware of any non-profit organization or even a for-profit entity that charges candidates to run for office. It is because organizations want to encourage as many competent people to run for office as possible because the organization benefits from the existence of leaders!

Some have said that volunteer/candidate fees are a necessary invention of UNAA because UNAA is broke. Still that doesn't mean that the cost should be shifted to candidates. UNAA needs elections in order to get its leaders.

So far, UNAA has about 200 members this year and assuming that half are new members, that is $5,000 in membership fees. That should be enough to pay for elections.

4. The EC lists expenses like ballots, booths, t shirts, security, stationery, food and background checks. My view is that most of those expenses are totally unnecessary and some are very cheap to warrant mentioning.

Ballots: a ream of good quality paper costs about $7.

Stationery: the EC can get some of the stationery UNAA will buy for other activities. I don't think the EC has to order its own pens, paper and pencils.

Security: elections will be held in the hotel. The hotel has several security officers and surveillance cameras. If anyone causes a commotion in a hotel, the hotel will call the police right away. Why would the EC require separate security?

T-shirts: The EC does not explain why we need t-shirts for them. The elections will involve less than 400 people. My home county has several thousand voters at their polling stations but no one wears a uniform. The American Bar Association and my County Bar Association each have about 17 times the number of UNAA voters but those organizations do not have uniforms for anyone. Why would a broke UNAA spend money on a uniform for elections for 400 people?

Booths: does UNAA buy booths every two years? Why are they for? We can just put tables in 2 corners and have voters go there for privacy.

Background checks: this is totally unnecessary. The EC want to check both criminal and education background. Most UNAA leaders are exempted from this requirement. The EC does not explain how it determined which candidates would get background checks. UNAA's main activity is the convention. I am aware that most people that have handled UNAA money for Dallas did not face a background check. Many members have sent in their payment via local organizers, members of the Council, the BOT and unelected Directors on the Executive. Many of those people have spent money on behalf of UNAA. Yet none of those folks has faced a background check.

More importantly, UNAA's constitution does not require any education level. The EC does not tell us what education level is required for candidates for Executive positions.

Criminal background checks are also unnecessary because UNAA's constitution does not bar candidates with a crime in their history. In addition, background checks require a social security number. UNAA is an association of immigrants. Some members are here illegally. What if a candidate doesn't have a social? Does our constitution require candidates to have socials?

Significantly, the EC does not mention which crimes will be a dis-qualifier. e.g Is it misdemeanors or felonies? Would it be crimes of moral turpitude or any crime? There might be some members that were charged with over-staying beyond their visa/married for papers/used a fake social (etc) and were later given a reprieve. All those are crimes. Would that deny them a chance to serve in UNAA leadership?

I humbly urge the BOT to reverse the EC's decision. The EC overstepped its powers by imposing more conditions for elective offices. The EC also was wrong to transfer election expenses onto the candidates. Election costs should be a responsibility of UNAA since UNAA is the direct beneficiary of the election results. UNAA wants elected leaders. Besides, UNAA collects membership fees and UNAA should use part of that money to pay for its own elections.

Thank you.

Joseph Musoke

c.c unaalist

c.c unaanet and UAH (because some members have not yet paid membership fees)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "samutyaba@yahoo.com" <samutyaba@yahoo.com>
To: jmusoke98@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 2:37 PM
Subject: UNAALIST Candidates fees Response

Dear UNAA members and potential candidates,

The UNAA constitution stipulates that there will be a fee for the candidates and gives the EC the mandate to determine that fee. As you already know the EC is composed of men and women of great integrity and as the Chairman I am very proud to be part of such a team. The goal of this EC is not to eliminate any potential candidate but instead to create a system where many candidates can enroll and run without any interference. We are interested in a credible election.

To some members the fee set is "too small" to other "just right" and to others "too big". We are of different minds, so that is expected and nobody should destroy another over that. The EC after long deliberations agreed that, the fees would be as you saw at Page - 9 in the guidelines.

Basing on the figures for the last election the total cost of the election in Denver was over $4,000. And this went to things like Ballot printing, Ballot Boxes, Stationery, Voting booths, security personnel, T Shirts (for EC members, volunteers , observers), the eve and voting day meals & refreshments.

Potential candidate and all members please know that what is collected from the candidates can not be enough to run this election it will only contribute about 1/4 of the total cost. The rest has to come from the UNAA treasury. The issue of the background checks cost is among the list on our budget compared to ballot printing, voting booths, security and some others.

Again I would like to thank you all for your commitment to UNAA and this year's UNAA elections.

Pastor Samuel Mutyaba

Chairman EC

From: Joseph <jmusoke98@yahoo.com>
To: "unaalist@unaa.memberclicks.net" <unaalist@unaa.memberclicks.net>; "unaaec2013-17@yahoogroups.com" <unaaec2013-17@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 5:03 PM
Subject: [unaaec2013-17] Background Costs

I have been informed that the bulk of the new increased candidate fees goes to back ground checks and I visited the website for the company that the Election Commission chose to work with (Accurate Now, Inc.). Based on the charges I saw, it appears that UNAA will pay no more than $40 for each person. Therefore, I am not sure why the EC is charging $150 (Secretary) to $250 (President). Does it cost more to run a background check on presidential candidates? Also, Youth Representatives ($25) and Council ($50) members will not have background checks. So why are they charged fees?
I saw the following charges:
1. Standard: $24.95 nationwide databases for criminal history, address information based on National SSN/Address Locator, and sex offender convictions.
2. Essential: $39.95 for an in-person criminal search of local courthouses based on your applicant's address history provided by the national SSN/Address Locator.

3. Deluxe: $74.95 and includes an in-person criminal search of local courthouses as well as verification of education and employment history.

4. Superior: $99.95 and includes an in-person criminal search of local courthouse, verification of education and employment history, motor vehicle report and credit report.

https://www.accuratenow.com/RedirectionServlet?fwd=fr2CxLKRIThiOALNT1f4iW39WGpSB67tsLAv5FHRaKnRpChbhaEWSEBxk2JSdCuJ-r8SvTP6hQg

From: "samutyaba@yahoo.com" <samutyaba@yahoo.com>
To: jmusoke98@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 11:03 AM
Subject: UNAALIST 2013 Elections Guidelines

Wish you all the best in this preparation.

Ugandan North America Association . 1337 Massachusetts Avenue . Suite 153 . Arlington. MA . 02476

Email: info@unaa.org