{UAH} better version: RESIGNATION of EC Chariman

From: The EC Chairman Pastor Samuel Mutyaba To: UNAA members Subject: Resignation form EC and its Chairmanship

Dear members

As of August 29, 2015 I resigned from the EC and its chairmanship. Any questions should be directed to the BOT until they replace another chairman for according to the constitution only the BOT appoints the EC chairman.

I have served this organization as the Electoral commission chairman 2013-17. According to the UNAA constitution it is the BOT that appoints the EC chairman. Thanks to the BOT and the members for trusting me to serve you.

Before being appointed chairman I served as Electoral Commissioner under the leadership of Mrs. Peace Senninde 2011. The Denver elections were very fair and credible credit to Peace and all EC-2011.

Since my appointment my commitment was to organize credible, free and fair elections. The first election that I chaired turned out not to be credible. It was an unfair election because of a fraud that we found. The EC tried to correct the mistake by recommending that the results of that illegal candidate now turned councilor be nullified. Our recommendation was denied on constitution grounds. The split of UNAA has happened there since.

The BOT, council members and some EC members resigned because of this. I choose not to resign having been affirmed that the issues in the constitution that caused the unjust election would be rectified, until nothing has been done.

Before this election year, June 3, 2015 the remaining members of the EC wrote to the newly constituted BOT and expressed our concerns, sighting what it would take to conduct a fair election. This included the constitutional issues and need to reconstitute the 13 EC members that were less by 5 members now.

The BOT did not respond until July 26, 2015 and in their long waited response told us that:

1. "The BOT will recommend to the UNAA council to initiate a process of constitution amendment". 2. "Elections should continue as per current constitution." 3. "As per current constitution there is no mechanism to nullify the election once it has happened the

EC has to screen every candidate to ensure that they are genuine prior to the election."

My fear fellow members as your appointed EC chairman, I have to be honest with you, if anything went wrong in this election there is no remedy as per this constitution, even as it were in the previous election.

The BOT was able to replenish the EC by August 13, 2015. On this day during the constitution of this EC I labored together with the old members on the EC to educate the new and also the non-members of the

EC that 20 days left to the election will not be enough time to organize a free, fair and credible election. The BOT members present, the executive and the rest wanted to take a vote on whether to hold the elections or not. It was a wrong forum the BOT chairman realized and stopped the motion and adjourned the meeting.

By all means the elections have to be carried out were the instructions. We agreed to give it a shot and started working. The old EC members because of the past experience were being cautious during the deliberations and resolutions. This was a cause of frustration to some new EC members and I don't blame them for they have never gone through what we went through.

Since we knew no amendments could be made after the elections (as per constitution) we had to have everything right. And the BOT had told us in their response (see above) "screen every candidate to ensure that they are genuine prior to the election" so we wanted to verify every name of the about 230 member voter list the secretary had presented to us. We asked for proof of payment for each of those individuals. The executive told us August 26 that they don't have ample time to do that; instead we should take a sample of 20 names in the verification process.

On August 27 the EC unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the executive request and insisted on getting proof of payment for each member. The next day even before we received an official response from the executive the EC members who are bent to having elections at any cost wanted the previous resolution repealed and take a vote on accepting the executive version. The meeting was adjourned before the vote was taken.

Being in a democratic society people have to choose according to their convictions. My conviction is to hold a free, fair and credible election. At this time being convinced within me that this election can't measure to that level I can't put my signature on it. So I won't preside over this election as chairman. So at this juncture I am resigning from the chairmanship and the commission as well. It is necessary that I move out of the way to allow those who have the conviction that they can do what the organization wants go ahead. I remain committed to UNAA and may serve in other capacities as will be deemed fit by the members now or in the future.

In brief I am resigning because:

1. The time to conduct a fair and credible election according to my experience, past before we

even started. The EC could not in 20 days that we had, organized a credible election. In the previous elections it took us at least 6 months. I can't preside over an election that I know is not credible.

2. The time constraint (only 7 days left to the election) puts off would-be-candidates and this

is not fair to such disenfranchised candidates and to the organization. Only a few candidates can beat this time constraint and this is not fair to the rest that can't.

3. If anything went wrong no challenge / nullification can be put against any candidate as was in the Kabagambe case that caused the split of UNAA and massive resignation of many UNAA office bearers. The constitution has no such provision. I am afraid to see any other thing go wrong on my watch.

4. Verification of the voters list is a must have and the executive is not doing it to my satisfaction. Less than 250 voters on the list that was submitted to the EC is a small number they should have been able to produce the receipts as proof of payment if the will was there.

5. The EC warned that there was no time to conduct these elections and the response was that the time left would be enough. Now we are asking for this and that and the executive is saying "we have no time." To me that is not acceptable especially when what we are asking for is needed for the credibility of the entire election process. I still love this organization and willing to serve in other capacities when deemed fit by the members or any other appointing authority in this organization.

Yours , Pastor Samuel Mutyaba Resigned EC chairman 2013-17

NOTE: As per your question from Mr, Joseph Musoke as to whether the EC was fully constituted? I will answer by saying I am not sure. Not all the names that appear on the website under Electoral commission should be there. Below are the true members as per my list at the time of my departure.

1. Pastor Samuel Mutyaba, 2. Mr. Michael Kimbugwe, 3. Dr. Peter Simbi, 4. Ms. Joanita Mulyanti, 5. Mrs. Fiona Babumba, 6. Mr. Joseph Kazinduka, 7. Dr. Ben Abe, 8. Mr. Herbert Twase, 9. Mr. Franco Wantsala, 10. Mr. Andrew Hakiza, 11. Mr. Peter Matovu, 12. Mr. Fred Byabagye.

2. The 13th name of Dr. Richard Oloya I had suggested to be removed from the list because even in 2013 election preparations he never showed up but once at the inception. Since then no call no show.

3. The names of Ms. Calorine Olok and Sheik Abdullah Ddumba should not have appeared at all on that list for I received their resignations some time ago.

4. Fearing that even more resignations were going to happen I had asked the BOT to send me as many commissioners as possible but only sent me five

 

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