{UAH} Constitution to be overhauled
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President Museveni recieves the constitution during the 2011 presidential swear in
• MPs to vacate Parliament upon expulsion from party
• Primary election losers can’t stand for Parliament
• MPs’ powers to vet appointments reduced
• Special courts for terrorists, the corrupt
• Judicial Service Commission to nominate EC
In 50 planned constitutional amendments to be introduced soon, the NRM government aims largely to check growing internal dissent and clip MPs’ powers.
A new bill – Constitutional Amendment Bill 2013, which will introduce the changes, has already been printed and will soon be tabled before Parliament, The Observer has learnt. Sources familiar with the draft say cabinet has already passed it.
Changes relating to Parliament are the most dramatic, perhaps reflecting President Museveni’s frustration with internal dissent arising from stubborn party MPs. The party seeks to do away with independent MPs by prohibiting a person who has participated in a primary election of a political party from seeking election as an independent candidate after losing the primary.
Independent MPs in Parliament currently number about 50, majority of whom lost NRM primaries. The proposals also cover crossing from one party to another, being expelled or becoming an independent after an election, making it clear that such an MP would stand to lose their parliamentary seat.
Thus a person who “leaves the political organization or political party for which he or she stood as a candidate for election to Parliament to join another political organisation or political party or remain in Parliament as an independent member or if he or she is expelled from the political organisation or political party for which he or she stood as a candidate for election to Parliament,” risks losing his or her seat.
This clause is inspired by the so-called ‘rebel MPs’ who were recently expelled from NRM but have remained in Parliament against the wishes of the ruling party. These MPs are Muhammad Nsereko, Barnabas Tinkasiimire, Theodore Ssekikubo and Wilfred Niwagaba. An article ordering Parliament to enact a law that will enable a party to recall a Member of Parliament is also included.
The proposals also address the vetting of presidential nominees, another area that has given the president a headache. Parliament will now only reject a nominee on account of lack of qualifications or on high moral grounds.
Some of the proposed changes are leftovers from 2005, the last time the Constitution was amended significantly. For instance, a clause that reduces the number of years an advocate must have practised before being considered for appointment as a judge from 10 to seven has been resurrected. The salaries and remuneration board is also being resurrected in another article.
Electoral Commission
For the opposition and civil society groups who have been yearning for changes in the constitution of the Electoral Commission, the government seeks to introduce key improvements in the appointment and tenure of commissioners.
Unlike the current system where the president picks all commissioners as he pleases, it will now be the Judicial Service Commission to propose names for appointment by the President. That is the way it currently works with judges.
In addition, the President will now only remove these commissioners on account of misbehaviour/misconduct or inability to perform, and this will be preceded by hearings before a tribunal. The tribunal will follow the same process as in the case of removing a judge.
Terrorism and corruption
The proposals also include an article that creates special courts to try terrorism and corruption suspects. What is conspicuously missing in this article, however, is the denial of bail to such suspects as Museveni has repeatedly demanded. As in Kenya, it is being proposed that the Attorney General should be able to write to the Supreme court, “seeking an advisory opinion on any matter regarding the interpretation of the Constitution and the Supreme court shall advise accordingly.”
The proposals include other relatively minor administrative issues in the justice, law and order sector, such as giving the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) powers to sack staff and for the Judicial Service Commission to appoint clerks and interpreters of courts.
The Inspector General of Government (IGG) is also being given more powers to pursue cases and where he or she is already involved, the DPP is not to take over prosecution.
The Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire, is behind these wide-ranging changes and has written to the Leader of Opposition in Parliament seeking proposals.
Cabinet sources have told The Observer that the president has set up a separate State House team to work on several other proposals, including some on the management of Kampala city and land.
MPS respond
Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo) said the amendment on losers of party primaries could only work if the said elections were free and fair.
“The amendments would only work if we had free and fair processes, because if we have a system which doesn’t allow somebody to seek redress from court, how can that work?” Ekanya said.
Joseph Balikuddembe (Busiro South), a lawyer, said the amendments would “violate the inherent rights of all the people who would wish to participate in the politics of this country, because anybody is free to contest any political office without any kind of hindrance.”
On his part, Medard Sseggona (Busiro East) said the changes are President Museveni’s way of “strengthening his dictatorship by muzzling all forms of opposition from both the NRM and the opposition.”
Sseggona added that Museveni did not want to hear any alternative voice, and that is why the notion of recalling an MP by constituents is being reintroduced.
“We know that his choice now is to use money to his benefit, but we are ready for him and we are introducing our alternative proposals…” he added.
Vincent Bagiire (Bunya West) said locking out independents would be unfair.
“The process should leave a window so that if someone has participated in the primaries in February 2015 as an example, he should be given six months within which to change, and if one ran as an independent it doesn’t mean that one’s rights as an MP are taken,” he said.
Opposition amendments
In an earlier interview, Shadow Attorney General Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri) told The Observer that the opposition’s 10 proposals hinged on electoral reform.
“We want Article 60 of the Constitution to provide that commissioners in the Electoral Commission would be appointed by the Judicial Service Commission and serve one seven-year term,” he said.
He added that the chairperson or vice chairperson of the Electoral Commission should be someone qualified to be named a High court judge, while the secretary to the EC should be an advocate whose appointment is done by a professional body.
“We want the army out of Parliament because its presence makes it partisan and equal to civilian authority which contradicts Article 208(2), which says that the UPDF should be subordinate to civilian authority and not engage in partisan politics,” Katuntu says.
The opposition further wants the size of Parliament cut and a standard set as to how constituencies are demarcated for effective representation. At the moment, Katuntu pointed out, some constituencies have 400,000 voters while others have as low as 40,000 voters.
The opposition also wants the role of security agencies in elections to be redefined to ensure that they don’t play a partisan role. All indications are that Parliament is set to have a busy 2014 as members debate all these proposals ahead of the 2016 elections, which are now 22 months away.
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