{UAH} Response to Rukundo: UNAA BOT

hi Liz,

I don't have the full facts and I have questions about both BoT versions (Rosette's and Opiyo Oloya's) so I am not competent to comment about which BoT document the full facts (to ME, each version seems to have carefully left out some relevant facts).  However, I noticed that you kept referring to the Board of Trustees as mere "ADVISERS".  For your information, this is how the constitution defines their role:

5.2: Powers and responsibilities of the UNAA Board of Trustees:

The UNAA Board of Trustees shall:
a) Provide oversight over the Executive Committee of the Association;
b) Be the custodians of the history, records, mission and purpose of UNAA;
c) Be the guardians and interpreters of the Constitution of UNAA;
d) Ensure that all elected representatives and leaders are accountable to the members of the Association;
e) Act as arbiters in conflicts between the Association's organs or among the Association's leaders and members;
f) Recommend to the UNAA Council the suspension or impeachment with cause any member of the Council, Executive Committee or the Board of Trustees, and to present the decision of the Council to the next Annual General Meeting for review and final disposition;
g) Appoint the Chairperson and members of the UNAA Electoral Commission who shall be confirmed with the advice and consent of the UNAA Council.
h) Appoint the Chairperson and members of a Rules and Disciplinary Committee;
i) Appoint the Chairperson and members of a Constitution Review Commission;
j) Suspend or dismiss with cause any member of the Electoral Commission;
k) At all times conduct themselves in an ethical manner, abide by the constitution and execute their duties diligently and fairly.

thanks

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From: Elizabeth Rukundo <unaa@memberclicks-mail.net>
To: joseph.musoke@ymail.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 1:46 PM
Subject: UNAALIST UPDATE: UNAA BOT

Dear Ms. Serwanga, 

Thank you for speaking out as a member of the BoT. It does clear some things that had me confused and flabbergasted by the inaction of the BoT once there was even a hint of a rival convention to the Annual UNAA Convention.

In addition, this silence was again evident when the BoT Chairman issued the Notice for the AGM and indicated that the venue would be confirmed. It is my understanding that the AGM is held in the hotel where the Convention takes place or close by so that as many members as possible can attend. Based on my web research, the Hyatt Regency La Jolla has a venue that can accommodate a vast number of members who can attend the AGM and so there should have been no reason to not announce the venue of the meeting UNLESS as you imply, they are in support of the rival convention and are trying to accommodate them.

Unfortunately, members of the BoT are not elected by the membership but are instead appointed by the UNAA President. Otherwise, the membership should demand that they state their allegiance clearly to the organisation instead of trying to destroy it through underhanded manipulations.

 As the ADVISORY body of elders, they should have thrown their weight behind the REAL UNAA convention and demanded that the C8 stop using UNAA logos/colors to confuse members. For that alone, they should be asked to resign from their positions as BoT members. If they do not have the courtesy to step down from an organisation in whose leadership they no longer have faith in, then the President ( who is elected by the members) has an obligation to explain to the membership why the ADVISORY body to the organisation that his office appointed is providing advise that threatens to break the organisation that he is leading, if that is indeed what they are doing.

We appreciate that your roles as BoT members is voluntary and often thankless..however, I have always been taught that if you decide to do something, then do it to the best of your ability. Thank you Rosette for speaking out finally. If the members of the BoT do not believe in the leadership of the current President, then the correct and proper thing would be to go back to the appointing authority ( UNAA President) and inform him that they can no longer in good faith work with him/ them and so are relinquishing their role as a member of the ADVISORY  BoT. Short of that, it will amount to bad faith and hypocrisy to continue to sit on the ADVISORY body. 

So, in light of your communication, shouldn't the next step be for the BoT as body to come out and categorically SUPPORT the OFFICIAL UNAA Convention or else,  those members who wish to, stand by their position that they do not believe in the current appointing authority and RESIGN AS ADVISERS to him and the organisation? 

Just asking.

Regards,

Liz

On Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 11:30 PM, Rosette Serwanga <unaa@memberclicks-mail.net> wrote:

Fellow Members;

I hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of Summer with your friends and family. I want to wish you all a healthy and prosperous season.

I am taking this opportunity to reach out to you about the goings-on in the UNAA Board of Trustees (BOT). To say that I am disappointed by Monday's statement would be an understatement. Many have asked why I did not attend the Monday June 9^th meeting and here is why.

For months a few BOT members have been meeting and making decisions in secrecy and announcing to you all how unanimously an issue has been voted on. Last night was one of those nights. They want to make you believe that after the meeting on June 9^th that ended around 10:30 PM decisions were made and published at 10:38 PM in a 7 page document – How efficient!!

My message to all you members is to have no confidence in the ability of the BOT as currently constituted to interpret the organization's constitution objectively.

My reasons for this conclusion are as follows:

a).  The impression that UNAA's problems started the moment Brian Kwesiga, became president, is incorrect. These problems can be traced all the way back to the events prior to last year's (2013) elections where a number of BOT members tried to interfere with the electoral process in a partisan way.

This was in clear violation of all principles agreed upon by all sitting members of BOT to not only not interfere but also to be non-partisan in regards to UNAA's politics.

This rule was blatantly abused before, during and after the elections in Dallas, and is continuing as we speak.

b). Soon after the Dallas elections; the BOT sat and made a decision to assist the new UNAA leadership in all ways possible to navigate it's landscape. The BOThad in mind that a new and young crop of leaders was now at the helm of our esteemed organization and need our total support to ensure the long term health of the organization.

For some strange reason, the BOT's objectives changed and became one of "taming" these young people and showing them who is really in charge. The idea that the BOT is the most powerful organ in UNAA was mooted by the authors of the new constitution.

The problem is that UNAA's constitution does not in any way or form state that The BOT is the most powerful organ in the organization. So to try and exercise powers that it (BOT) does not have is an exercise in delusions of grandeur!

c). UNAA-Causes: no one should have any doubt as to who is behind UNAA causes; it is the UNAA BOT. Is it a coincidence that after threatening President Brian Kwesiga with the possibility of a rival convention, one came into being literally one month later! 

The reason is very simple; a number of members on the BOT have one and only one objective, to ensure that UNAA-San Diego hosted by the Hyatt Hotel is unsuccessful. That is called sabotage and BOT members are on record saying that they will make sure that the convention organized by Brian Kwesiga and his team is unsuccessful. So the idea that the BOT is trying to save UNAA is as laughable as it is absurd.

The fact that UNAA Council members infamously known as the C8 are promoting a rival convention is not only treasonous but it is staggering that the BOT has not said a thing. The BOT's silence on this matter is deafening.

d). The biggest abusers of the constitution are sadly to say the very framers of the sacred document. Instead of interpreting the Articles as it is written, judgments are made at the whim of political objectives of the day.

In simple English instead of basing a decision on what the constitution says, decisions are made on what they say it should have said. The question then begs, why is all this selective interpretation of the constitution going on?

Is it possible that none of the framers really believed in what they were doing in the first place? 

Do they really care about the well-being of our vaunted organization when making decisions in such an unprincipled manner?

The BOT has made decisions that have no substantive basis in law or in practice.

e). I can attest to the fact that contrary to the narrative out there,  Brian Kwesiga and his Executive made a concerted effort to establish a working relationship with the BOT. 

That hand of friendship was slapped away by very senior members of the BOT, who made matters worse by trying to take over the authority of the Executive which is strictly prohibited by the constitution.

f). The BOT as a body in carrying out its constitutional duties has done almost nothing since Dallas. Part of its duty requires it to review the constitution, carry out audits of UNAA's finances and produce the Financial reports for the year 2013. 

To date the BOT has done nothing in that regard as promised. The above duties do not require or if they do, need very little input from the Executive or the Council. 

So how does it explain away the inaction on the part of the BOT?

As pointed out the BOT's failure to do its job is being unfairly placed on President Brian Kwesiga. How that makes logical sense only my fellow members on the BOT can explain.

g). Finances; this a huge area of concern for all and rightly so, the problem is that the BOT is selective in how it plays it's oversight role. 

At the moment members are clamoring for the 2013 Finances and rightly so.  However; are those the only finances missing? There is a huge mystery as to what happened to the 2012 Finances after the BOT promised all the members it would be produced.

Could the answer to that question lie in the now released 2012 tax filing. Why was there no mention at all in the 7 pages of rambling by the BOT about this tax filing?

h) Why is there no concern at all on the part of the BOT as to why UNAA's taxes were not only filed erroneously but illegally?  Who authorized their filing and why are members of the BOT shown as the UNAA President, Vice President and Secretary?

i). Who is Jude Mtungo and when did he become UNAA's Treasurer? Is he a signatory to any one of UNAA's accessible bank accounts?

Furthermore; does Jude Mtungo really exist?

j). Much has been made to the fact that Brian Kwesiga, is the only signatory of UNAA's accounts. We all know that that is not true because the Secretary is still a signatory per the Constitution and was never removed.

What the BOT does not want you to know but was brought to our attention is that Jude Ssempungu is the only signatory to 6 UNAA accounts; access to which he has denied his fellow Executive Committee members.

The question again is why?????

The BOT in its infinite wisdoms either chose to skip this fact or did not deem it important enough to tell UNAA's members yesterday.

If we passed a new constitution in order to start the organization afresh, it would be unrealistic to expect many of the old leaders who dominant the BOT and the C8 to adhere to new principles that would take the organization to the next level.

The Young generation should be given a chance to make their mark in which direction the organization should go. After all they are the leaders of today and tomorrow.  

The BOT duty should be one of steady guidance through consultation and not one of interference.

It is not a crime to reject advice, so the BOT should stop treating President Kwesiga as a criminal just because he did not take their counsel.

I would like to end by thanking President Kwesiga and his team for keeping the organization together during these challenging times and for leading the local San Deigo committee in organizing the 2014 convention.

See you all in San Deigo.

Rosette Serwanga

UNAA BOT Member

UNAA President (2003-2005)

 

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Click here to Reserve your Room for UNAA San Diego at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla.
(The Only official UNAA Convention Hotel)
Click here to register for the UNAA San Diego Dinner Cruise

How to UNSUBSCRIBE.

1. Go to UNAA.ORG
2. Login. The Member Login feature is a red button on top of the menu to the left of the home page
3. After logging in Members will automatically be directed to the "My UNAA" page
4. Hover the mouse over the "My Features" Tab and select the "E-Lists" option at the bottom
5. Here a member will see all the E-Lists (UNAALIST is an E-List) they are on.
6. A member has two options
   1. Click edit on the right and turn off Email delivery. This stops the emails from automatically coming to your email and but you can still login into "My UNAA" and find discussion forum emails under the "My Profile" tab and clicking "Email History".
   2. Click "unsubscribe" which basically stops you from receiving discussion forum emails including any official communication emails sent to UNAALIST.

Ugandan North America Association

6257 N McCormick Rd #118 Chicago, Il 60659

Email: info@unaa.org