Resolutions adapted at the national consultation on free, fair elections (L-R front): Opposition leaders Wafula Oguttu, Ken Lukyamuzi, Kizza Besigye and Amanya Mushega, at the national consultation on free and fair elections in Kampala last week. Photo by Dominic Bukenya The selection of commissioners and staff must follow a process of open application, public hearings and scrutiny conducted by the Judicial Service Commission. The successful applicants should be finally vetted by Parliament and upon approval be submitted to the President for appointment. National consultation. Following countrywide consultations on electoral reforms, delegates last week met in Kampala and agreed on resolutions that will be presented to the Speaker of Parliament. Below is the full report. Having considered electoral reform proposals by the coordinating team for the free and fair elections campaign, the Citizens Coalition on Electoral Democracy, the Interparty Political Organisations for Dialogue, the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Consultative Forum, the Cabinet and other concerned Ugandans. Acknowledging also that more than 3,000 leaders participated in a series of consultations on free and fair elections held in the following regions: Tooro, Bukedi, Teso, Kigezi, Busoga, Sebei, Ankole, Bugisu, Buganda, Karamoja, Bunyoro, Acholi and West Nile solemnly agree and declare as follows: I. New Electoral Commission i. A new independent and impartial electoral commission must be established. The selection of commissioners and staff must follow a process of open application, public hearings and scrutiny conducted by the Judicial Service Commission. The successful applicants should be finally vetted by Parliament and upon approval be submitted to the President for appointment. ii. Commissioners should serve for a guaranteed one, non-renewable seven years term. iii. A commissioner may only be removed from office in exceptional circumstances for gross misconduct or incompetence. Such removal process should follow the same criteria and procedure applied in the removal of a High Court judge. iv. The new Electoral Commission must carry out a complete overhaul and review of existing staff of the commission, and returning and presiding officers. v. The selection of secretariat staff of the commission at all levels, and returning and presiding officers and polling assistants, must go through open selection and publically advertised recruitment process. II. Ensuring integrity of the voting process i. A new, clean and verifiable register of voters, which should include eligible Ugandans in the diaspora, must be compiled by the new Electoral Commission. This should be done in a manner which is completely transparent and accurate; it should ensure the rights of citizens to register to vote, while preventing unlawful or fraudulent registration or removal of persons from the voters roll. ii.The new register should be comprehensive, inclusive, and up-to-date; compiled through a transparent process with full participation of stakeholders, particularly political parties, civil society, and the public. iii. The new register must be accessible to all as a public document that can be inspected at no-cost. It must be displayed at selected public places and all Electoral Commission offices. Before the new register is finalised, two months period of public display must be allowed for the public, political parties, and candidates to verify, object to or seek to add eligible names. The final, clean and verified register must be ready six months before elections day. iv. A comprehensive and continuing civic and voter education programme should be developed and funded from the national Budget. v. The voting for LCIII, LCV, Parliament and President should be conducted on one day to avoid influence peddling and patronage in the electoral process. III. Role of security forces and militia i. The military should have no involvement whatsoever in the electoral process and should remain focused on its constitutional duty of securing our borders and defending our sovereignty. Ensuring law and order during elections should be exclusively the responsibility of the regular police, under the direction and supervision of the Electoral Commission. ii. The role of the police should be strictly to act impartially to ensure public order. Its role during the campaigns and in all other aspects of the electoral process should be monitored by the Electoral Commission. iii. The military and police should vote in regular polling stations; they must not bear arms or wear uniforms in this process. iv. The movement and deployment of the army should be restricted and monitored in the period before, during and after the elections, under arrangements agreed upon at the national consultation. v. The formation and deployment of any militia (informal armed groups constituted outside the laws) is absolutely illegal; this prohibition must be strictly enforced in practice. vi. Codes of conduct for security forces during the campaigns and elections should be agreed to by stakeholders. The agreed codes of conduct should then be independently and strictly monitored by the Electoral Commission. vii. The Chief of Defence Forces must be in charge of all men and women in service.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 06:06:40 +0000
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