{UAH} who is right about Article 9.9???

Article 9.9 of UNAA's constitution provides that "Arbitration: Any electoral complaint that is not resolved by the Electoral Commission shall be referred to UNAA Board of Trustees for arbitration and resolution within four (4) weeks or before the elections, whichever comes first."

 In the email below, Mr Gaburungyi, one of the drafters of the constitutiton, wrote that:
"you say the EC and BoT should address the petitions you have submitted about the election of a Councillor. Guess what, according to the UNAA constitution Article 9.9 this could ONLY have been done BEFORE the election. Which means the matter is completely resolved and cannot be appealed"

Dr Muniini, who was also one of the drafters of the constitution, wrote that""Empowered by [...] Article 9:9 of the UNAA Constitution, the UNAABOT finds that Mr. Rahim Kabagambe's nomination as candidate for UNAA Council was not valid.

For a faster response please contact me at 415.789.6427

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From: Timothy Gaburungyi <timothy.gaburungyi@gmail.com>
To: joseph.musoke@ymail.com
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 8:59 PM
Subject: UNAALIST UNAA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OVERREACH IN COUNCIL AND QUESTIONS SURROUNDING ELECTORAL PROCEDURES

Henrietta and My Fellow UNAA Members,

I think what is extremely unfortunate about this is that UNAA is effectively being held at ransom by the 8 UNAA Councillors essentially going on strike because they feel so aggrieved. This in effect punishes all of UNAA's membership, an audience which has clearly done the 8 councilors no harm and certainly does not deserve the collective penalty.

If the 8 Councillors feel aggrieved they should use the laid down procedures to seek redress rather than take the kind of action which even they recognize can seriously harm the UNAA they say they want to protect.

My fellow UNAA members almost 2 years ago, I personally pleaded with Councilors Ed Kironde, Becky Wamala, Gerald Awichu, Haira Nalugemwa, Andrew Ssembusi and Budonian Victor Lukandwa to stand with me and vote to host the UNAA 2012 Philly convention at a hotel UNAA could afford. Despite my passionate pleas they exercised their right to reject my advice and voted to take the UNAA convention to the Marriott Hotel and the PA Convention center. It was very clear then that their decision was injurious to UNAA and as time has shown the Pennsylvania Convention Center is still seeking almost $20,000 from UNAA. I would like to remind these friends of mine and especially Budonian Victor Lukandwa that when we (and UNAA in the end) lost that vote (which we had won in the Executive BTW) we never went on strike like he feared we would. We were bigger than that. We did the opposite, we accepted your vote and stepped up even harder to organize UNAA Philly - hell WE even pushed YOU  to get things done!

Today it is your moment to accept a verdict you don't like it. It is your moment to realize that UNAA is bigger than your individual selves and even the collective 8. It is your moment to realize that not all votes will go your way. It is your moment to realize that other people may like a choice you don't like. It is your moment to realize that even if you think you are right, democracy - the choice of the majority, is ALWAYS more right even though it may be wrong. It is your moment to put UNAA first.

You know very well that every argument you have advanced below can be effectively rebutted. For instance you say the EC and BoT should address the petitions you have submitted about the election of a Councillor. Guess what, according to the UNAA constitution Article 9.9 this could ONLY have been done BEFORE the election. Which means the matter is completely resolved and cannot be appealed. Then because you have advanced petitions and arguments, people opposed to you will advance others which are unfavorable to you. For instance CM Wakou whose election as Speaker you are opposed to received 13 votes from UNAA Members in his constituency which is more votes than CM Ed Kironde (your choice for Speaker) and CM Becky Wamala (your choice for Deputy Speaker) received COMBINED. Do you see where I am going with this? Yes spiraling down into the darkness where rational thought is all but lost. We dont need to go there.

So to the 8 Councillors, I plead you come back to town and resume your work for UNAA. This has already dragged on longer than necessary and you should not be remembered for holding up progress and being disruptive. CM Gerald Awichu has a convention to organize and he needs all the good will right now and not this negative publicity for UNAA San Diego 2014. Folks, let us put this behind us and move on.

My two cents

Gaburungyi

On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 9:07 PM, Henrietta Wamala <hsw1226@yahoo.com> wrote:

As a Manager if I got such a letter as written below,  I would fire all those that are not doing the jobs assigned to them per their job requirements, now as a member I come to wonder if this is a letter of Indirect resignation from the Council of 8 and also wonder if the EC's integrity is being undermined as stated below. Has the BOT taken on the day to day runnings of UNAA?

We had a four hour AGM Meeting and no one stood to protest that this council member should not be on the ballot but after weeks, it becomes an issue?

Are our elected leaders going to get any business done or are we going to go round in wrangles when one they don't get what they want?

Oh Lord, retirement for now continues to be a joyous thing for some of us.

UNAA needs serious Prayers, especially after what I saw in the AGM in Dallas. As stated in my earlier postings, this Constitution that everyone quotes when they think it satisfies their personal agendas needs serious revamping and Members are watching you all elected since you are supposed to represent all the 50 states regardless of the votes you got in Dallas as stated by our dear constitution.

Henrietta. N. S.Wamala

Human life is purely a matter of deciding what's important to you and taking action. 

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On Sun, 9/22/13, Busuulwa Kawuma <busuu001@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: UNAALIST UNAA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OVERREACH IN COUNCIL AND QUESTIONS SURROUNDING ELECTORAL PROCEDURES
 To: hsw1226@yahoo.com
 Date: Sunday, September 22, 2013, 10:23 AM

 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)

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