Ssemogerere’s book on public funding of parties criticises the Constitution, EC
Veteran politician and two time presidential candidate, Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, has written a book critiquing political party funding in Uganda.
The critique; Reality Check: Political Party Financing in Uganda, is based on three issues – the ideological/philosophical/legal orientation of the public funding system; its administering authority; and its control component.
Public financing of political parties, Ssemogerere says, is a “moral obligation for the State in a democracy to empower the citizenry to freely exercise their basic human rights to political expression, association and assembly.”
But, he says, the framework for public funding of political parties in Uganda, which was instituted in 2010, is biased in favour of the ruling party because it positions it to receive a disproportionate share of the resources available to political parties and to dominate the appointment of the Electoral Commission (EC), the body responsible for managing the funds.
He says the EC is ‘inherently biased’ to the ruling party and cannot fairly manage the political parties’ fund because the President, who is also the head of the ruling party, initiates the process of appointing commissioners by submitting nominations to Parliament for approval, which is itself dominated by ruling party members.Ssemogerere benchmarks Uganda’s system against other democracies, especially the US, Germany, and South Africa and concludes that Uganda’s low score on good practice “goes a long way to explain a great deal about the country’s unhappy political history”.
He criticises the Constitution of Uganda for upholding the fundamental right to freedom of expression, association and assembly and prohibiting the establishment of a one-party system, but at the same time providing for the possible suspension of political parties and a reversal to the monolithic Movement System if Ugandans vote to do so through a referendum. He says the Constitution makes the future of political parties uncertain.
The amendment to the Political Parties and Organisations Act, 2005, signed into law in March 2010, sanctioned public funding of political parties with representation in parliament basing on the numerical strength of each party. It limits contributions and donations to political parties by non-nationals, foreign governments and NGOs, and prohibits donations from hostile governments and terrorist organisations.
The public, under the provisions of the Presidential Election Act, also funds presidential candidates through providing a vehicle and an escort car, plus Shs 20 million to facilitate campaign activities. A presidential candidate is supposed to secure the support of at least 100 registered voters in each of at least two-thirds of all the districts of Uganda to qualify for funding.
But ssemogerere observes that while using public resources for elections is prohibited by the Presidential and Parliamentary Acts, he notes, “the same provisions exempt contesting incumbents in elections from the prohibitions where such resources are ‘ordinarily attached to their offices’.”
But, he noted, the framework in Uganda has inherent problems for it neither specifies a formula for funding the parties, nor indicates what percentage of the budget should be committed to this purpose. He added that the law makes no attempt to explain the ‘day to day’ activities to be funded. He proposes establishment of a strong constitutional foundation to guarantee the funding system.
Ssemogerere said the third and final reading of the bill that introduced the party funding provision lasted “less than four minutes”.
“Just the time needed for the Attorney General to read out its title and have it passed by voice call,” he said. Parliament passed it on December 22, 2009.
Peter Girke, the KAS Country Representative, in his foreword to the book, agrees with Ssemogerere about the need for debate on political party funding.
Semogerere, a two-time presidential candidate and former leader of the Democratic Party, went into retirement after serving as DP president from 1980 to 2005. His party, for which he was presidential candidate, is deemed to have won the disputed 1980 general election.
DP Secretary General Matthias Nsubuga and UPC Vice President Joseph Bbosa are disappointed that the recently presented budget did not provide for party funding despite the law, ‘regardless of its shortcomings’, in place.
Peoples Progressive Party President Jaberi Bidandi Ssali and FDC deputy Secretary General for research and policy Augustine Ruzindana say the provision on political party funding cannot be implemented in its current form.
“Those in power today,” says Bidandi, “are not committed to the operation of the multiparty system and therefore cannot see the need for political parties being organised as institutions that could take over power tomorrow to ensure continuity.”
Ruzindana agrees: “It (the law) is meant to legalise the NRM’s use of public resources for its activities,” says he, particularly in regard to the provision that party funding should be based on the number of seats a particular party has in Parliament.
Ruzindana says Uganda can learn from Tanzania, where a specific percentage of the budget – two percent of the annual recurrent budget – is committed to funding party activities. Tanzania also has an independent department to manage the fund. The book was sponsored and published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), a political foundation from Germany.
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