UGANDA: MUSEVENI AND PARLIAMENT RE-APPOINT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KAMPALA 000979 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2019 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR UG SUBJECT: UGANDA: MUSEVENI AND PARLIAMENT RE-APPOINT CONTROVERSIAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION REF: 06 KAMPALA 00764 Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Aaron Sampson, Embassy Kampala, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a hastily arranged August 12 hearing timed to beat an impending constitutional deadline, the Ugandan Parliament confirmed President Museveni's recommendation to renew the tenure of Uganda's Electoral Commissioners. Uganda's "new" Electoral Commission now closely resembles the old Commission, as five Commission members were re-appointed for second seven year terms. The speedy confirmation hearing and apparent partisan leanings of several Commission members prompted the only two opposition parliamentarians informed of the hearing ahead of time to walk out of the proceedings. Opposition leaders are now considering a legal challenge to the appointment of the Commission's only new member, who was previously an unknown organizer for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in western Uganda. On August 18, police forcibly prevented a handful of protesters belonging to the youth wing of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) from marching on Parliament and the headquarters of the Electoral Commission. During an August 19 civil society forum on electoral reform attended by both the Speaker of Parliament and the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, several speakers openly ridiculed the re-appointment of what is widely regarded as a politically tainted team of Commissioners. In response, Speaker Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi seemed to leave open the possibility of amending the Ugandan constitution to allow for the appointment of additional Commissioners selected by the opposition. Until we and others see such reforms come to fruition, the re-appointment of pro-NRM Commissioners appears to be just the latest in a series of moves designed to tilt the playing field decisively in Museveni's favor ahead of the 2011 elections. End Summary. -------------- New Elections, Same Commission -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Parliament approved President Museveni's nominations to Uganda's six-person Electoral Commission during a hastily arranged August 12 hearing. The Ugandan constitution requires Parliament to ratify the re-nomination of Electoral Commissioners three months before the end of the Commissioners' first term. The tenure of current Commissioners expires on November 18. In what many suspect was a deliberate strategy designed to eliminate any chance for debate, President Museveni did not transmit his Electoral Commission nominations to Parliament until August 5, thereby giving legislators little more than one week to review and ratify the appointments. ¶3. (SBU) Museveni re-appointed five of the Commission's six members: Chairperson Badru Kiggundu, Joseph Biribonwa, Tom Buruku, Steven Ongaria, and Jenny Okello. The President nominated a previously unknown official, Christine Mugabe, to replace the Commission's retiring Deputy Chairperson. At least three of the Commissioners have overt ties to Museveni's ruling NRM party. This includes Biribonwa, who was the Museveni campaign's task force boss for the Bunyoro sub-region in 2001; Ongaria, who was an NRM Member of Parliament until his appointment as an electoral Commissioner; and Okello, who attended the NRM "cadres" course at the Movement Secretariat's School of Political Education in 1990. Add to this list Mugabe, a high school teacher from western Uganda who previously led the NRM's patriotism club in Mbarara. The Commission's permanent secretary, Samuel Rwakoojo, also served as an NRM Member of Parliament before joining the Commission in 2001. ¶4. (C) On August 13, Parliamentary opposition leader Ogenga Latigo told the U.S. Mission that he and one other opposition member of Parliament - Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) member Okello Okello - were the only opposition leaders to have received advanced notification of the August 12 hearing. Latigo said he received a letter at 6:00 pm on August 11 informing him of the hearing scheduled for 9:00 am the following morning. Latigo claimed his NRM colleagues, on the other hand, were fully informed; Latigo accused the government of deliberately keeping opposition leaders in the dark as a means of expediting the re-appointment process. ¶5. (C) During the confirmation hearing, Latigo tried to secure first a few extra days for review and then, as a last resort, a few additional hours on procedural grounds before voting to renew the Commissioners' mandate. Latigo described KAMPALA 00000979 002 OF 004 the re-appointment process as rushed to the point of being underhanded. When Speaker Sekandi refused to delay the hearings on account of the constitutional clause requiring an appointment by Monday, August 17, Latigo and Okello walked out of the meeting. Remaining MPs subsequently confirmed the six Commissioners. -------------- Same Commission, Same Criticisms -------------- ¶6. (U) Most of the opposition's criticism of the Commission stems from the April 2006 Supreme Court ruling that upheld President Museveni's February 2006 re-election. Although the Court's seven judges validated Museveni's victory, albeit by a slim 4 to 3 margin, the Court determined that the principle of free and fair elections had been compromised by bribery, intimidation, violence, illegal deletion of voter names from voter rolls, unacceptable irregularities in the counting and tallying of election results, and partisan conduct by some electoral officials (reftel). ¶7. (U) In the eyes of Uganda's political opposition, the Supreme Court's findings destroyed the credibility and impartiality of the Electoral Commission and its Chairman, Badru Kiggundu. Latigo and others regard Kiggundu and his colleagues' re-appointment as tantamount to rewarding Uganda's Electoral Commissioners for a job not well done and a signal that President Museveni has no interest in addressing either lessons learned from the 2006 elections or the numerous recommendations for electoral reforms proposed by opposition members and civil society. ¶8. (U) In May 2009, a coalition of opposition parties known as the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) published a 36 page booklet detailing reforms recommended for adoption in advance of the 2011 general election. IPC members include UPC, the FDC, the Conservative Party (CP),and the Justice Forum (JEEMA). Some of the key electoral reforms include clarification of voting procedures on election day and increased transparency during actual vote counting both at polling stations and ballot collection points. ¶9. (U) The IPC also recommends reforming Uganda's system for compiling voter registries, and distancing the Ugandan army from electoral processes by eliminating the ten Parliamentary seats currently allotted to military representatives. To bolster the independence and impartiality of the Electoral Commission, the IPC recommends amending Article 60 of the Ugandan Constitution to allow for political parties with representation in Parliament to participate in the process of selecting Electoral Commissioners, and limit Commissioners to just one seven year non-renewable term. The IPC also proposed changes to the Commission's extremely influential but sometimes overlooked permanent secretary position to promote further accountability and transparency. -------------- The Stealth Sixth Commissioner -------------- ¶10. (C) President Museveni's decision to appoint Christine Mugabe to replace the Commission's retiring Deputy Chair did little to improve the Commission's standing with the opposition. The previously unknown Mugabe was apparently plucked from the ranks of local level NRM organizers. Parliamentary opposition leader Latigo told the Embassy he was "more than concerned" that Museveni appointed Mugabe because she is a solid NRM booster the President can rely on. Latigo said the opposition was exploring whether to mount a court challenge questioning Mugabe's qualifications to be an Electoral Commissioner. He said the government deliberately delayed providing any information on Mugabe until just hours before the August 12 confirmation hearing and that opposition leaders were still unsure of Mugabe's full name. To substantiate this, Latigo produced a resume given to the opposition ostensibly to substantiate Mugabe's qualifications. The resume, however, was for an individual named "Ahabwe Justine Mugabe". Latigo said confusion over Mugabe's name and professional experience torpedoed opposition attempts to find out anything about the Electoral Commission's sixth Commissioner prior to the confirmation hearing. -------------- Follow the Money, or Lack Thereof -------------- KAMPALA 00000979 003 OF 004 ¶11. (C) Funding is another concern for both the Electoral Commission and opposition leaders. The Commission has requested approximately USD 100 million to organize and administer the 2011 general elections. The Ugandan government has promised less than half this amount, leaving a major shortfall that is unlikely to be filled by donors. Whether the Electoral Commission truly requires so much money is a point of debate. Latigo said the Commission's budget is "huge" to the point of being deliberately inflated. Sensing another conspiracy around the next corner, Latigo said he believes the Commission's budget request is intended to fall short as a means of providing Commissioners with an excuse for failing to implement key electoral reforms or adhere to Uganda's pre-electoral organization calendar. -------------- Police Arrest Opposition Protesters -------------- ¶12. (U) On August 18, a heavy police presence in downtown Kampala disrupted an attempt by a handful of members of the opposition FDC's youth wing to march on Parliament and the offices of the Electoral Commission to protest the Commissioners' speedy confirmation process. Police arrested ten protesters, charging them with inciting violence and holding an illegal assembly. The protesters were released from prison on August 20. Following the arrests, FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu complained that police used unnecessary force to disrupt what he described as a peaceful demonstration in favor of electoral reforms. Oguttu claimed that the FDC had notified police of its intention to demonstrate as required by law. It is unclear whether police ever granted the FDC approval to hold a protest. Several of the FDC members who spent two nights in police custody described conditions in Luzira prison as deplorable with insufficient food, medicine, and water. One claimed security officials stole his shoes and money. A female protester who was arrested reported that there was no water in the women's section of the prison. ¶13. (C) Police appeared well informed of the FDC plans. During an August 17 meeting with the U.S. Mission staff at Police headquarters, Inspector General of Police Major-General Kale Kayihura, focused more on movements of Uganda's political opposition than on the actions of Uganda's criminal classes. General Kayihura shared with us a copy of an August 14 letter to the Electoral Commission from FDC Youth League Chairman Mudi Bole Abed Nasser. In the letter, which the Commission forwarded to Police, Nasser described the Commission Chairman Kiggundu as an "enemy of the people of Uganda", demanded his resignation, and warned that the FDC would hold Kiggundu personally responsible for any unnamed consequences that may result. While the letter may not have constituted a specific threat, it certainly did no service to the credibility of the FDC. -------------- Civil Society Calmly Strikes Back -------------- ¶14. (U) Several opposition leaders and civil society representatives used the extremely well attended August 19 launch of the Working Group on the Citizens' Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) to vent their frustration with both Parliament and the Electoral Commission while Parliamentary Speaker Sekandi, Electoral Commission Chair Kiggundu, and opposition leader Latigo looked on from a table beside the podium. One speaker stated that if he were in Chairman Kiggundu's shoes, he would resign immediately in hopes of restoring some credibility to the electoral commission. Several participants, including Democratic Party (DP) vice-president and likely presidential challenger Norbert Mao, directly challenged Speaker Sekandi for fast-tracking the Commissioners' confirmation and delaying review of pending electoral reforms. "We are not optimistic," said Mao of the Commission's ability to organize free and fair elections. ¶15. (U) Speaking in his own defense, Kiggundu noted that the current Electoral Commission had successfully presided over more than 19,000 elections during its seven-year tenure. He argued that while the 2006 general elections were admittedly flawed, they were light years ahead of anything Uganda experienced previously. Kiggundu expressed hope that the 2011 elections would be even better. Speaker Sekandi rose at the end of the meeting to defend the Electoral Commissioners' confirmation process, explaining once again that the constitution had forced Parliament to move quickly. Sekandi KAMPALA 00000979 004 OF 004 offered one ray of hope to his listeners, intimating that Parliament may be open to amending the constitution to allow for the appointment of additional Electoral Commissioners proposed by the opposition once the current Commission begins its new term in November. Sekandi said Uganda's Attorney General was reviewing possible electoral reforms which would be submitted to Parliament by February 2010. -------------- Comment: Stacking the Electoral Deck? -------------- ¶16. (C) Regardless of whether Uganda's Electoral Commission is non-partisan, the process of renewing the Commission's tenure further undermined the pretense of impartiality. Whether this was by design, as opposition leader Latigo believes, or was simply a product of Museveni's just-in-time management style, may not become apparent until further into Uganda's election cycle. The Commission and its Chairman, however, clearly face a deepened credibility crisis with the opposition and perhaps the public at large. The President's decision to select an obscure district level NRM organizer as Uganda newest Electoral Commissioner, together with the confusion over Christine - or Justine - Mugabe's actual name, further confused both the process and the Commission's mandate. ¶17. (C) President Museveni seemed to slam the door on future electoral reforms in May when he told opposition leaders that the only additional election reform Uganda needed was the digitization of Uganda's voter registry. Then-Minister of Gender, Labor, and Social Affairs Syda Bbuma later backtracked on the President's statement, clarifying that while Museveni did not envision any major electoral overhauls, some electoral reforms are indeed pending before Parliament. These reforms were submitted by the inter-party IPC coalition and are presumably the same ones currently under review by the Attorney General. Speaker Sekandi hinted that some of the IPC propositions may stand a chance of passing Parliament in February, but it was difficult to discern whether the Speaker truly supported the reforms or if he was merely seeking to appease a hostile audience of civil society representatives and opposition members. For the moment, the re-appointment of Electoral Commissioners looks to us like the latest maneuver of many recently by Museveni and the NRM to tilt the electoral playing field to their advantage in advance of 2011. HOOVER