{UAH} Separate but Equal : To Joseph Musoke

Moses,

1. I am not sure what you are trying to mean when you refer to the time consuming effort that goes into convention preparation. But I hope you'll agree with me that one can only judge by the results rather than the effort. You can spend 20 hours preparing one paragraph. If the sentences and grammar are messed up, you may not realistically expect me to overlook that and instead focus on the time it took you to draft it.

2.  We had the old constitution for over 20 yrs and it worked better than the current constitution. It was better written and did not have as many inconsistencies as the current one.

One might be tempted to agree with you that all those years we were under the leadership of the transformers but then one would remember that YOU also served us under the old constitution! May be you are a Transformer too.

Here is my humble suggestion, convince Brian's camp in the Council to allow ordinary members to have a chance to vote if we should keep the current constitution or go back to the old one with a few changes. If I am so far off, then the ordinary members will reject my suggestion. My guess is that there is a very strong reason why the last Council did not allow us to vote on it.  They KNEW that we'd vote to go back to the old one!

3. what do you mean by "new thinking" and how does the current constitution represent that thinking?

thanks

--- In UNAANET@yahoogroups.com, <unaanet@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Joseph;

Here is my simple take:

1) it is wrong to only assess UNAA through  those 3 convention days. The convention is as  a result of many days of meeting and planning by a number of people in the organization. If you ask those people who participated  they will tell you it can be very time consuming. 

You should know this based on the very "short period" of service for UNAA-San Francisco.

2) It kind of sounds funny that you ran for the highest  office for an organization whose constitution you do not believe in. Since you love the old constitution so much here is my suggestion; there is another organization registered in Dallas that basically picked up UNAA's  old constitution from some old bin and is using it. 

You could join it at your own free will if they will let you since they almost railroaded you.

3) The new constitution represents a new kind of thinking in UNAA in order to break out of the Cocoon so that UNAA can realize it's potential.

Problems found in the constitution this early are a sign of tremendous progress in our organization and not a sign of failure.

Ocen

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

From: Joseph Musoke Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 19:30 To: UNAANET@yahoogroups.com Reply To: UNAANET@yahoogroups.com Subject: [UNAANET] Separate but Equal : To Joseph Musoke

Tim,
I notice that you mention that "We need to draft amendments to our own constitution."...that is exactly what I addressed in my emails.  I pointed out the flaws that need fixing. But I go beyond your proposal and suggest that we take a shot cut and just return to the old constitution , with a few changes like voter eligibility, dismissal of members, etc.

When we still have a focus on the 3-day convention, it makes little sense for us to have so many people that do NOT have much to do to help plan the convention.  Planning for future growth is good if such a plan does not create gridlock today. We created so much capacity that we have to create work for all these organs.
That's why you have someone come up with time wasting schemes like;
1.  the idea to "vet" election commission volunteers,
2. when a someone pays for membership, their name is sent to the treasurer, the treasurer sends it to the secretary, the secretary sends it to the EC, the EC sends it back to the Executive for publication,
3. the local organizers can identify a hotel and discuss it, the Executive then discusses the same hotel matter, then the Council also discusses the same issue.
4. in Dallas, we had a Secretary for the local committee, a UNAA Secretary, a Secretary for the BoT, a Secretary for the Council and a Secretary for the EC...we probably had treasurers for most of those bodies..all for a THREE day event!
thanks

 

For a faster response please contact me at 415.789.6427

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From: Timothy Gaburungyi <timothy.gaburungyi@...>
To: joseph.musoke@...
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 3:37 PM
Subject: UNAALIST Separate but Equal : To Joseph Musoke

Joseph,

 

You said "At the moment, UNAA's main activity is the convention. It makes little sense to have so many bodies to organize a 3 day event."

 

The reason the constitution was updated was to lay the foundation for UNAA to do more than organize the convention. That explains why the convention organizing portfolio was put under the Secretary of the Association so that other leaders could focus on other 365 day activities intended to make UNAA more relevant to its members and then grow membership. We were never going to build Rome in a day. It is a step by step process with the first step being to build the enabling by-laws and guidelines – i.e the constitution.

 

With the rules and the 3 organs in place it still boils down to pure leadership to get UNAA to that next 365-days level of operations. The President and his team set the goals and the path to goal for their term of office and they seek the consent and advice of the UNAA council. Councilors are expected to bounce these ideas off their constituents and/or suggest alternative paths forward. The BOT comes in only as an arbiter and as an overseer to make sure by-laws are adhered to.

 

Joseph, right now there is work to do. For instance we as UNAA members need to draft and submit suggestions to make the dual citizenship law more favorable to us and our families. UNAA also needs to reconstitute a committee to pursue the external voting issue which we were reminded of by Eng. Winnie Byanyima. We need to draft amendments to our own constitution. UNAA needs to revamp our cash handling policies and our financial reporting procedures. We need to develop and advocate policies to remove the unfair and high cost of remitting money to our loved ones in Uganda. A few of us are already forming a UNAA Technology Advisory Committee which will enable the transfer of technology to schools and other institutions of learning in Uganda. UNAA has a job board which needs to be upgraded and socialized to a broader UNAA audience and we need it to include jobs for those who want to return to Uganda. UNAA needs to develop the avenue which the business and investment community can use to follow up on ideas raised during our Trade and Investment forums.  UNAA needs to discover and pursue opportunities which are advantageous to our member numbers, e.g store discounts, group insurance and immigration hotlines. UNAA has work to do developing community service and volunteer opportunities for our members. We also need to embark on the work of promoting ourselves, our enterprises here in North America and even our country Uganda. We have work to do to set and meet our philanthropic and charitable goals.

 

All this good stuff will only get done if UNAA's leaders, in all 3 branches, and UNAA's members (I am referring to you and me directly) actually walk the talk, roll up our sleeves and get into the trenches and do the work.

 

So before the next complaint goes off, each one of us should ask, "what have I done for my Ugandan Community that is UNAA lately?"

 

My Two Cents

 

Gaburungyi

On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 3:36 PM, Joseph Musoke <joseph.musoke@...> wrote:

UNAA's constitution talks of "equal but separate organs" i.e Executive, Council and Board of Trustees (BoT)...but then the same constitution provides that the President is a member of the Council and also a member of the BoT. Obviously, the organs can not be truly independent of each other if the President is also members of the other organs!  

UNAA's constitution was based on the US constitution that has 3 separate but equal bodies...and those 3 bodies actually have separate work (largely) and they are busy all the time.

At the moment, UNAA's main activity is the convention. It makes little sense to have so many bodies to organize a 3 day event. The idea of a Council and a BoT would be ideal if there were other activities for the to do...but as we all know, if UNAA lets the local organizers help with convention preparations, there is little work left for all the leaders of UNAA. What will the BoT do for 3 years if they are not involved in the convention preparations? Do we honestly expect a certain member of the BoT (or 2 members of the BoT) to sit on their hands and wait for occasional updates from the President? What will the Council be doing?

Will the President let Mr Awichu run the show in San Diego (chair Local Organizing Committee meetings) such that the UNAA leadership just calls into the conference calls like Francis did in Dallas? i.e though Francis was the President, he was not involved in the day-today-preparations for the convention and was calling-in like the BoT and Council members.

Will the BoT function well with the knowledge that the Executive will soon have to kick 2 or 3 of them off the BoT to create room for new BoT members (may be a certain former Secretary, an astute campaign strategist and a former Director)?

Since there is obviously so little work for the folks with fancy titles, people are again going to be reduced to fighting over the little work left. This leads to inefficiency.That is why I have always said that there was NO good reason to separate the Council from the Executive. 

thanks

 

For a faster response please contact me at 415.789.6427

---

From: "y.kibwika@..." <y.kibwika@...>
To: joseph.musoke@...
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 11:42 AM
Subject: UNAALIST UNAA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OVERREACH IN COUNCIL

The UNAA Council 8

It appears that you are making several assumptions and calling your fellow members "watchdogs".

You are CHOOSING "not participate in any official UNAA Council meetings/Votes pertaining to new legislation or approve any UNAA budgetary expenditures" based on your assumption that we have a leadership team in the Council that is handpicked. With what facts do you show that Nicholas Wakou,  Stephen Katende, and myself are supposedly handpicked ? "UNAA Council 8" you are making very strong assumptions without any validity. In life you have choices. Choosing to continue to serve our members after finishing my term as Miss UNAA was my priority. What was yours ? I did not run to be a watchdog. Council members are not representatives for the Executive Committee but for our UNAA members.

The UNAA Council is an "Equal but separate" organ and will continue to operate that way. I think we need to have a pow-wow or one of those retreats so we can all get to know each other.

Yvette Kibwika

Southeast Region Representative

y.kibwika@...

(954) 536-7187

Let us not forget....   Ugandan Independence Day October 9

 

On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 11:23 AM, Busuulwa Kawuma <busuu001@...> wrote:

Distinguished UNAA members,
Thank you for the faith and honor you granted us to serve on the Council. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly since we represent members with diverse views, beliefs and opinions.  The decision to release this public statement is to remain directly accountable to our constituents and establish higher standards for ethical and transparent behavior.

The duties of the Council as stipulated by the UNAA Constitution require the utmost independence from the Executive Committee and other organs.  As Article 1 (1.2: b) of the UNAA Constitution stipulates, "Equal but separate leadership organs, namely the UNAA Council, UNAA Board of Trustees and UNAA Executive Committee."

As Council representatives, we have been gravely concerned about the seeds of interference being sown and starting to bear fruit with multiple cases of Executive Committee overreach threatening the integrity of the UNAA Constitution and independence of the Council. In addition to that, there unanswered questions surrounding the credentials and documents submitted to the Electoral Commission for the young adults (Canada) candidate for Council. The failure to properly verify credentials prior to releasing the official candidate list highlights a break down in the system already demonstrated by a former Council member for Mid-Atlantic Region 1 who hadn't submitted credentials prematurely declared a candidate.

We are also denouncing the notion that the Executive Committee can determine the leadership of the UNAA Council. Considering the fact that the Council is entrusted with the heavy burden of providing checks and balances and the power to impeach any member of the Executive Committee as stated in Article 7 (7.2), it is a breach of trust and conflict of interest for the Executive to handpick their watch dogs. The Constitution grants the Vice President power to cast a decisive vote in case of a tie-breaker during official Council meetings as illustrated in Article 7(7.10) of the UNAA Constitution. However, authority/mandate to participate in Council elections/proceedings that were conducted outside the UNAA Constitutional framework, without a quorum or official roll call is neither granted nor guaranteed to the Vice President in the UNAA Constitution.

The Executive Committee further ignored the deadlines that were set forth by UNAA Council representatives prior to the election by publicly declaring unofficial election results of Council Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Secretary while a petition concerning election irregularities was pending before the Board of Trustees. The BoT decision on this case will set a precedent if future candidates can be elected in absentia without the Electoral Commission physically verifying their credentials. The President further ignored requests by members of the Council to allow internal deliberations and consensus to resolve the stalemate and elect leadership that is representative of the Council.

These concerns have been raised and seconded by 8 members of the Council representing a large segment of UNAA Constituents that are systematically being excluded from representation by the Executive Committee. As a result, we have decided to take a stand-- not to undermine the UNAA Executive Committee or hold UNAA programs hostage but to defend the integrity of the UNAA Constitution, UNAA elections and independence of the Council. The time to act is now, we were elected to lead and won't be silenced or allow the can to be kicked down the road.

As a result:
(1)   We shall not participate in any official UNAA Council meetings/Votes pertaining to new legislation or approve any UNAA budgetary expenditures until we have a leadership team in the Council that is not handpicked by the UNAA Executive Committee.

(2) We request that the Electoral Commission and BoT address the petitions and questions that have been submitted by the 8 Council representatives in a timely manner.

(3)   We shall continue to conduct our duties and responsibilities as stated in UNAA Constitution Article 7 (7.2:B) that includes outreach, support and mobilization of UNAA members and/or member organizations in our respective regions, including attendance of a minimum number of local events, established from time to time by the UNAA Council.

UNAA is an organization we all love and as representatives of the people, we intend to set a high bar and nurture an organization that bleeds excellence and reflects the will of the people. There is no room for incompetence and we shall continue to serve with integrity in accordance with the UNAA Constitution.

Sincerely,

The UNAA Council 8

This statement is agreed upon by the following signatories:

Awichu Akwanya (South Pacific Region 2)
Ken Ddamba (New England Region)
Dr. Daniel Kawuma (Mid-Atlantic Region 2)
Edriss Kironde (Rocky Mountains Region)
Victor Lukandwa (Great Lakes Region)
Haira Nalugemwa (Female Youth Representative Canada)
Andrew Ssembuusi (Mountain Region for Canada)
Becky WamalaBrown (South Pacific Region 1)

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

Email: info@...

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

Email: info@...

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

Email: info@...