Vote to decide political system in Uganda

By M. S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, MAY 24. The long-awaited referendum in Uganda to enable the people to decide on the political system is to be held on June 29. The choice before the voters is formulated in the seemingly simple question posed to them: Which political system do you wish to adopt, ``movement'' or multi-party?

The referendum is being held in terms of the provisions of the Ugandan Constitution (Articles 69-75, covering the subject `Political Systems'). The Constitution, adopted in September 1995, allows for three kinds of ``political system'': (a) movement political system; (b) multi-party political system; and (c) any other democratic and representative political system, any one of which the people of Uganda can adopt in a future referendum.

However, only the first two are ``defined'' in terms which seem disarmingly simple. The choice before the voters on June 29 too is limited to these two.

While the ``multi-party'' system does not need any explanation, the ``movement system'' perhaps does. This, the political system that prevails at present in Uganda, and stands for the Government led by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) under the President, Mr. Yoweri Museveni.

The NRM came to power in January 1986, in the wake of its triumph in the war of liberation against ``dictatorship and misrule'' - the summary way in which Mr. Museveni refers to the years of Obote First phase, Idi Amin, Obote Second Phase, and the coalitions that followed.

The Ugandan peoples' historic experience of such ``dictatorship and misrule'' has enabled the NRM to legitimise a vision of politics which excludes and indeed prohibits what in other societies would be considered normally free political activity, while allowing it to function for all practical purposes exactly like a political party.

However, the NRM is a rather more sophisticated entity than a crude expression of one-party rule. Uganda has a Parliament and a President elected under universal adult franchise.

Parliament functions with vigour and freedom; media and civil society too function freely.

In theory, Members of Parliament do not belong to any political party, though, again in theory, they are all, by virtue of being adult citizens, also members of the NRM, even those politically opposed to the NRM. The fact is that political parties are not permitted to function freely, like holding meetings or opening branches or openly campaigning for public office, though they do retain their offices and constitution.

Of course, the NRM, which is not a political party but a ``movement'', naturally functions freely. That feisty member of Parliament, Ms. Winnie Byanyima, hit the nail on the head when she described the NRM was a ``non-party political party''.

The two main Opposition parties, Uganda Peoples' Congress and the Democratic Party, which have from the beginning opposed the whole process of referendum, are likely to boycott it. Their view is that participating in the referendum would invest the exercise, loaded heavily in favour of the NRM, with legitimacy.

However, their stand is weakened by the fact that known leaders of these parties have already legitimised the movement system by taking part in the presidential and parliamentary polls; and by being part of the present Parliament, though not formally in the name of their parties.

The referendum clears the decks for the election of a new Parliament and President next year, both with a term of five years. The present Parliament was elected in June 1996, following the Presidential poll in May 1996.

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