Uganda Planning to Clamp Down on Political Parties
January 13, 1999 - 0:0
KAMPALA The Ugandan government is planning to introduce soon a bill to ban all manifestations of political parties pending a referendum next year on whether Uganda should return to multi-party politics. Under the current no-party system, parties are tolerated, but all candidates for office must run as individuals. In practice, everyone knows their affiliation, but their parties are unable to organize overt support for them.
The political organizations bill, which is rousing the ire of the Roman Catholic Church, long dormant politically, would ban all party names, slogans, symbols and initials. Those targeted include the Democratic Party and the Uganda People's Congress, two of the main political parties. President Yoweri Museveni banned overt activity by political parties after fighting his way to power in 1986 after a five-year bush war, allowing them to exist only in name.
Critics charge that the current system is a disguised form of one-party government by Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM), which he insists is not a political party. The president's argument is that the system avoids division and tribalism. Museveni legitimized his presidency with a landslide win in 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections. The Roman Catholic Church is already urging people not to take part in the 2000 referendum, provided for in a constitution introduced in 1995, saying it will further divide the people.
People should boycott the referendum on the political system, said the Archbishop of Kampala, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, in his Christmas Day sermon. A referendum is not what brings lasting peace, but people of different shades learning to live together. The one proposed will not be the answer to the abuse of human rights, Wamala said. If the referendum was the key to peace and stability, then there would not be problems in Palestine, Israel and Northern Ireland, he added.
That stance is pitting the church against the government, which is accusing the clergy of meddling in politics. Cabinet minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the referendum was an important democratic exercise for Ugandans. We shall talk to the cardinal and other church leaders about this matter. The right to choose is a very fundamental one which should not be subverted, he said.
The opposition parties have charged that the referendum is pre-rigged in favor of Museveni's nrm and have accused the president of going on the campaign trail ahead of other political parties. A week ago Museveni went on a 200-kilometer (120-mile) trek in central Uganda, ostensibly to commemorate the advance of his guerrilla fighters against the regime of then president Milton Obote during the bush war.
He visited scenes of the bloodiest battles and gave money to impoverished peasants as he walked and visited mass graves. Museveni is still relatively popular in Uganda, but his administration has in recent weeks been hit by corruption scandals, while Kampala's involvement alongside rebels in the war in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has come as a godsend for his detractors.
(AFP)
The political organizations bill, which is rousing the ire of the Roman Catholic Church, long dormant politically, would ban all party names, slogans, symbols and initials. Those targeted include the Democratic Party and the Uganda People's Congress, two of the main political parties. President Yoweri Museveni banned overt activity by political parties after fighting his way to power in 1986 after a five-year bush war, allowing them to exist only in name.
Critics charge that the current system is a disguised form of one-party government by Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM), which he insists is not a political party. The president's argument is that the system avoids division and tribalism. Museveni legitimized his presidency with a landslide win in 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections. The Roman Catholic Church is already urging people not to take part in the 2000 referendum, provided for in a constitution introduced in 1995, saying it will further divide the people.
People should boycott the referendum on the political system, said the Archbishop of Kampala, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, in his Christmas Day sermon. A referendum is not what brings lasting peace, but people of different shades learning to live together. The one proposed will not be the answer to the abuse of human rights, Wamala said. If the referendum was the key to peace and stability, then there would not be problems in Palestine, Israel and Northern Ireland, he added.
That stance is pitting the church against the government, which is accusing the clergy of meddling in politics. Cabinet minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the referendum was an important democratic exercise for Ugandans. We shall talk to the cardinal and other church leaders about this matter. The right to choose is a very fundamental one which should not be subverted, he said.
The opposition parties have charged that the referendum is pre-rigged in favor of Museveni's nrm and have accused the president of going on the campaign trail ahead of other political parties. A week ago Museveni went on a 200-kilometer (120-mile) trek in central Uganda, ostensibly to commemorate the advance of his guerrilla fighters against the regime of then president Milton Obote during the bush war.
He visited scenes of the bloodiest battles and gave money to impoverished peasants as he walked and visited mass graves. Museveni is still relatively popular in Uganda, but his administration has in recent weeks been hit by corruption scandals, while Kampala's involvement alongside rebels in the war in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has come as a godsend for his detractors.
(AFP)