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.

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New Elections, Same Commission
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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

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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.

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Same Commission, Same Criticisms
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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.

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The Stealth Sixth Commissioner
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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.

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Follow the Money, or Lack Thereof
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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.

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Police Arrest Opposition Protesters
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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.

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Civil Society Calmly Strikes Back
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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

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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.

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Comment: Stacking the Electoral Deck?
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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