|
![]()
|
|
SAME RESOURCES: Buturo (left) and Ngoma Ngime
|
By Hamis Kaheru
CABINET has decided that the proposed referenda on the political system and
presidential term limit be held on the same day, information minister Dr.
Nsaba Buturo said yesterday.
“The two referenda will be held on the same day but there are two questions
which will be put to the public,” Buturo told the weekly government press
briefing at his offices in Nakasero, Kampala.
In one question, voters will be asked whether they want the country to
continue being governed under the Movement system or to return to multi-party
politics.
The second question will be on whether Article 105(2) of the Constitution
should be repealed to remove the two-term limit for the presidency and allow
continuous eligibility, popularly known as the third-term.
Buturo’s remarks mean that Cabinet accepted justice and constitutional
affairs minister Janat Mukwaya’s recommendation on the referenda.
Mukwaya said on March 8 that she ha d recommended to the Government that the
two referenda be held on the same day.
“The sh29b (cost of referendum) people are talking about is not for every
issue that is to be decided through a referendum.
It is possible to have a multiplicity of elections on the same day using the
same resources and the same personnel,” Mukwaya said on phone.
She said under a joint referendum, voters would be required to tick different
ballot papers and cast them in separate boxes.
“It is a matter of having one box for the referendum under Article 74 (change
of political systems), another box for Article 105 (third-term) and another
box for any other issue,” she said.
“If a group of people can handle a referendum
on one issue the same people can be used to manage another issue.
We can have three or four elections on the same day and use the same
resources,” she said.
Buturo said the question of funding the referenda was settled and tha t the
exercise would take place by February next year.
“The funds will be there. We have found them,” he said. When asked about the
source of the funds the minister said, “from your taxes.”
Finance state minister Mwesigwa Rukutana last week said his ministry had
allocated sh30b in the 2004/05 budget for the proposed referendum.
Article 74 of the Constitution says the political system can be changed
either through a referendum or through a resolution of Parliament upon a
petition of district councils.
Cabinet proposed to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) headed by
Prof. Frederick Ssempebwa, that a multi-party political system be adopted
through a referendum under Article 74(1).
However, CRC rejected the proposal and recommended that the change to
multipartyism be effected through a resolution of Parliament under Article
74(2).
The CRC argued that the referendum was an unnecessary costly exercise because
the leadership, which would have been on the forefront of championing the
Movement System, had already opted for a change to multipartyism.
This means the outcome of the referendum on political systems is obvious
since nobody would campaign against the proposed change to multiparty
politics.
“Since there might not exist any effective groups to canvass the question,
the costly exercise of a referendum should be avoided,” the CRC report says.
Article 74(3) of the Constitution says the referendum on political systems
shall be held in the fourth year of the term of Parliament.
This means that the referendum can be held any time between July 2004 and
June 2005.
Published
on: Friday, 23rd April, 2004
|
