{UAH} IGNORED by UNAA Council

Dear Becky,
On Aug 15th, I sent you a petition requesting the Council to vote to permit/allow ordinary members a chance to repeal or affirm the current constitution.  Subsequently, you sent me an email acknowledging receipt of my petition.  However, when I looked at the update that sent out on Aug 19th as well a review of your most recent discussions in the Council, I realize that you have not tabled my petition for debate/vote in the Council.
Please note that I am not requesting the Council to agree with my position.  All I am requesting you to do is to vote to ALLOW ordinary members a chance to express their preference between the new and the old constitution.
If the Council ignores an ordinary member's petition, what other ways can an ordinary member initiate the process to amend/repeal the new constitution?
thanks

 

For a faster response please contact me at 415.789.6427

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From: Becky Wamala-Brown <beckywamalabrown@sbcglobal.net>
To: joseph.musoke@ymail.com
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 11:09 AM
Subject: UNAALIST UNAA Council Update

Dear members,

On behalf of the 1st UNAA Council, we appreciate each one of you for your support and for participating in UNAA activities. Thank you. Because of you, UNAA is growing.

Ten members of the UNAA Council attended the last meeting and resolved that the EC and the registration process should continue immediately- to enable all those members who wish to attend the Convention and those that wish to enroll to become members, to have access as soon as possible. They want all members at large who wish to come to Dallas to go ahead and pay until the Convention. They can pay online or by sending checks or money order to the Treasurer.

 

Our UNAA Constitution does not have any entrenched provision or article that states that certain amendments cannot be done. Every article is as important as the other. If we respect the constitution, we MUST respect every article. Any article can be changed and the constitution gives a clear process on how to alter it if members feel the need to alter it.

 

For any petition to go to the members, it must go through the UNAA Council.

There were some serious allegations that were brought to the Council, through emails, phone calls and discussions. As representatives of the people, we are mandated to look into matters of the people and it is our duty to report back our findings. This will help all members know what is going on and know what we are deliberating about. That would be the clear democratic path.

 

There are two categories that came out of the feedback:

A-Complaints which are broken into three parts and B-a list of Articles of the UNAA Constitution that were breached:

A- Complaints:

1- Respect the deadline-do not amend or suspend the constitution

2- Extend the deadline-Throw out Article 9.6 of the constitution

3-Hardships with the system used-it did not cater for everybody

 

1- Respect the deadline-do not amend or suspend the constitution:

Members who support #1 believe that UNAA has a constitution that should not be touched, tampered with or changed. In their opinion, if it has to be changed then the changes should be effective in the next election. Article 9.6 is very clear and sets the deadline. A deadline was set for voters.

They feel that members had a long period from the last day of the convention in Philadelphia 2012 to August 2, 2013. Members cannot complain that they could not register when they waited until the last minute. It does not matter whether the system failed them. A majority of the people who want no change are from the same region.

 

2- Extend the deadline-Throw out Article 9.6 of the constitution.

There are those members who feel that because there were problems registering coupled with abrupt changes of the deadline that this time all members who wish to vote should be able to vote. They feel that Article 9.6 should be suspended for this 2013 UNAA Election. They ask that if these members are not allowed to vote, then the people who paid $20 to become members (not to renew membership) should be disqualified. They did not complete the process. Indeed those who paid only $20 to become members (not to renew membership) should be disqualified, but if the article is suspended, they should be allowed to become members- after paying the correct full fee of Fifty dollars-($50)

 

3-Hardships with the system used-it did not cater for everybody.

There are quite a few problems that have been identified in this particular election regarding notice, registration process and technical requirements.

a- The communication from the Electoral Commission confused members at large about the deadline. Initially there were 3 deadlines total: August 28, August 15 and eventually August 2. It took one month and seven days for the first deadline sent on June 20^th 2013, to be changed abruptly to August 2. When it was changed on July 27^th, members were given six-6 days to register/enroll and become UNAA members.

b-The deadline for the candidates was not changed but that of the members at large was changed.

c- Necessary information was not disseminated uniformly. Some members were advised to pay $20 for membership and this information was not sent to everybody. UNAA membership fee is $50 therefore they did not qualify to be members and did not qualify for a discount. Some members were then called back after the fact and asked to pay the difference.

d- Important information was sent electronically which is a hardship for some members. Not every member has access to the internet. Therefore the only way they could get information was by snail mail or other means.

e- Phone calls were not returned to those members who were having trouble registering-the Treasurer did not call back.

f-The email system could not allow one family to use the same computer.

g-The deadline on the website continued to have August 15^th 2013 as the deadline even after it was changed to August 2. If anyone somehow missed the email of July 27^th that gave a new deadline, they would be confused by what was on the website.

h-The website was closed to those members who wanted to pay after the August 2 deadline and become UNAA members.

i-Financials- The financials are completed yet.

 

B. Articles of the UNAA Constitution (2010) that have/or would be breached:

Upon review of the process in regard to our constitutional obligations as members and as it pertains to the implementation of the Constitution, the Council came up with the following findings.

 

2.1: Organization: f) to address needs peculiar to members of the Association.

Members had problems with the system that need to be addressed.

 

 2.3: Statement of Non-discrimination Intent: The Association is an equal opportunity organization. It does not discriminate, for membership purposes, on the basis of race, color, religion, political affiliation, gender, age, handicap, marital status, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnicity.

By using mostly emails, we discriminate against electronically challenged members.

 

3.1 (a): Full Membership:–A full member has the right to vote.

When we deny the members the vote because of our failed registration (technology and/or process), we violate the constitution.

 

3.3 Dues: All Members shall be required to pay annual membership dues as designated by the UNAA Executive Committee with the advice and consent of the UNAA Council.

Not all members, paid the full amount of $50 to become a member, some paid $20 even when they were not renewing. They were allowed to get an automatic discount something that was not communicated uniformly-a violation.

 

3.3.1: Membership dues paid in a current fiscal year shall be valid for membership for the following fiscal year.

If we follow this article, then only members who are renewing (paid dues in 2012) would be eligible to vote. It would be very unfair to all new members.

 

3.5: Members in Good Standing:  Members in Good Standing in the Association shall be those persons who……… have been admitted to membership in the Association by action of the President acting on behalf of the Association; ………… (Not done. None of us is a member under this Constitution.)

 

4.1: General Membership Meetings: Annual General Meetings of the Members ………. The Exact date, time, place and agenda of the meeting shall be determined by the Chairperson of the UNAA Board of Trustees, in consultation with the Executive Committee and communicated to the members no later than the last day of the month of February preceding the meeting. It was NOT done. The time and venue of the AGM were decided by the Dallas organizers, not the Chairman of the BOT. No agenda has been sent.

 

6.2: President: The President or his/her designate shall ensure that all orders, resolutions and decisions of UNAA Council are carried out. He/she shall receive quarterly and annual reports from all members of the Executive Committee.

This article allows the Council to carry out its decisions through the President.

 

Article 6.6: The Treasurer shall receive, deposit and maintain custody of all funds and securities belonging to the Association. He/she shall disburse funds under the direction of the Executive Committee.

Not all candidates paid their fees to the treasurer.

 

Article 9.6: Functions & Powers of the Electoral Commission:–

The Electoral Commission shall:

-create and/or update the Election Guidelines;

 -set the deadline for registration for voting, which shall be no later than thirty (30) days prior to the election;

Although the deadline date of August 15 sent initially was corrected, it negatively affected members and potential members to fulfill the constitutional mandated obligation to register or renew their membership. By the EC setting a date other than August 2, it was a constitutional violation. There were 3 deadlines total: August 28, August 15 and eventually August 2. It took one month and seven days for the first deadline sent on June 20^th 2013, to be changed abruptly to August 2. When it was changed on July 27^th, thirteen days-13 were cut off from the initial deadline of August 15-Members were given six-6 days to register/enroll and become UNAA members.

-maintain and update the voters' register;

The UNAAEC was required to update and maintain the voters' register.

The register was developed/maintained by partisan individuals before the UNAAEC was constituted. It was a violation of the Constitution. Even now the membership application/registration process is managed/technically controlled by the Director of Development, a member of the Executive Committee.

 

9.7: Candidate Registration Fees: All candidate registration fees shall be paid directly to the UNAA Treasurer. By the EC mandating all possible candidates to send their fees to the EC Treasurer was a direct violation of the UNAA Constitution. Although the constitution gives the EC the right to make electoral guidelines, it does not give them a mandate to override the constitution. Therefore, these actions were in contravention of the UNAA Constitution thereby rendering all candidates that sent fees to the EC Treasurer unqualified-because they do not meet the constitutional requirement of Article 9.7

 

What is the middle ground?

If we respect all these articles, some contradicting each other, we will be following every rule of the constitution, but we will certainly not be able to have an election in 2013. We MUST find a way forward.

 

Middle ground-The Council is still deliberating until it gets to some middle ground. The UNAA Council has power in Article 13.1 to recommend to the members to either waive or to alter the constitution at the AGM so that all members can be accommodated.

 

13.1: Power to Amend Bylaws: The Membership or the UNAA Council or the Executive Committee SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO INITIATE ACTION TO ALTER, amend and/or repeal these Bylaws or adopt new Bylaws, except that any such alteration, amendment, repeal or adoption shall first be approved by two-thirds [2/3] majority of the UNAA Council and then a simple majority of members present at an Annual General Meeting, with respect to which Notice of such purpose shall have been given to members.

   

Becky Wamala-Brown
Secretary, UNAA Council
Representative: South Pacific Region 1
Northern California and Northern Nevada.
 
Ugandan North American Association (UNAA)
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