DEFIANCE NONCOMPLIANCE
Since the last week, the
Chairman of Electoral Commission, Eng Badru Kiggundu appears more distraught
than stressed. His biased utterances
show that Eng. Kiggundu has lost his sense of fairness and he should step aside.
The role of the Chairman
of an Election Commission is that of arbitration. Refereeing. And, like most
referees, he should exercise a high degree of impartiality. This, precisely, is
what the defiance, noncompliance campaign demands – a basic expectation of an
Electoral Commission to conduct a free and fair elections.
This basic principle
appears to elude Kiggundu and his EC. Mr. Kiggundu has increasingly become
intolerant and irritable to the point that he can no longer hide his contempt
for Dr Besigy. The message of “defiance, noncompliance” appears to have cornered
the EC that they see limited opportunity for rigging elections.
For that, Eng. Kiggundu
has clearly lost his cool. The puzzle that is unsettling him the most,
apparently, is how to contain Dr Kiiza Besigye, in case the EC has to announce
that he lost, come February 18, 2015.
I think it is important
to explain to Eng. Kiggundu what “defiance, noncompliance” means. Dr. Besigye
has from inception claimed that the Electoral Commission is biased and is
incapable of organizing a free and fair elections. In the build up to the Citizens’
EC Reform proposal that the government discounted, it was made clear that Eng.
Kiggundu’s EC is an accomplice in the vote rigging that has denied Dr Kiiza
Besigye victory since 2001.
It is against such a
background that political players had hoped the government would want to build
consensus by adopting some of the proposed amendments to the EC statute and
other enabling laws. The government acted belligerent and noncompliant, by
rejecting all the issues raised by the Citizen’s Consultation Process. In the
minimum, government simply added a word “Independent” to the Electoral
Commission.
In doing so, the
government strengthened its grip on EC by excluding members of the Opposition
and civil society from contributing to it composition and transparency
mechanisms. In essence, it it became clear that the incumbent had no intentions
to compete favourably for the 2016 elections.
The issue with Kiggundu’s
Electoral Commission remained unresolved. This calls for defiance and
noncompliance to those unjust conditions. It is about resisting any prospect of
the Commission participating, as usual, in skewing the electoral process
towards the incumbent.
So far, all signs allude
to the fact that Eng. Kiggundu is lost in words, virtues and deeds. First, he
admitted that there is no way the EC can be independent, given that they get
their funding from the Executive. Every sensible Ugandan knows that the EC is funded
from the National Treasury!
Second, by addressing his
discontent with Dr Kiiza Besigye in public, and to transgress into attacking
the family of Dr. Kiiza, Eng. Kiggundu showed his deeply seated derisions, and
prejudice towards this candidate.
The EC has power and
resources at his disposal to call to order, any Candidate who is not playing by
the rules. The obvious first line of action is to write directly to the
candidate, as he did with Mukono MP, Hon, Nambooze ( Ref: LEG 75/79/01 dated
December 15, 2015 letter in official EC headed letter, but enclosed in NRM
Secretariat envelop). Second, is to invite the Candidate with his agents for a
one-on-one meeting in regards to the alleged transgression(s). He could defer
to Police in events that a Candidate broke the law, or conducted himself in manners
that are contemptuous of public order.
In sharp contrast, Mr.
Kiggundu has not condemned NRM for interfering repeatedly, with Go-Forward
rallies. He is watching gleefully as the Go-Forward campaign agents are being
kidnapped by the Police.
Dr. Kiiza Besigye has
been transparent enough to warn that it is these deliberate acts of omission and
commission to create unfair and unfree
elections that he will defy and not comply with. There is nothing illegal about
that.
END
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