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The Monitor of September 24 featured Cabinet�s recommendations to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC): naked attempts, not only to boost the already excessive powers of the President, but to subordinate Parliament to him and to render it subservient to his every whim: for fear of losing elected office.
If anything, presidential powers should be trimmed to those of the Premier at Independence.
He is currently in a position to influence or change any law. He is Commander-in-chief of all armed forces; chairs the High Command, Army Council, Air Command and Political High Command. He chairs the omnipotent Movement �Organisation,� its National Council and National Executive Council. He is Chief Executive, and therefore de jure Chairman of Cabinet. He makes all �political� appointments!
The presidency�s major impairment to democracy is that, by occupying the de facto Chair of Cabinet, and of the majority Movement Caucus which is subtly the effective Parliament; it renders the now nominal Parliament ineffectual against the Caucus (itself �His Master�s Voice�) making what decisions Parliament will take even before the proposals reach the House floor.
People often denounce a �spineless� Parliament, forgetting the gallant, fearless, and intrepid MPs, who have not succumbed to bribery or intimidation; and have consistently opposed despotic laws; but lost to overwhelming numbers of slavish conformists.
Also, that the servile majorities are a legacy of the constitution-making process of 1994-5: when aspirants to the next parliament were accepted as Constitutional Assembly candidates; resulting in bootlegging of obnoxiously partisan provisions: including Articles 69 - 74 and 269 - 271, into the Constitution; against desperate protests of honest members: including fair-minded Movementists: David Tinyefuza, Kiiza-Besigye and the late Serwanga-Lwanga, who were silenced.
The insertion undervalued the Constitution, as some highly principled and non-conformist members never signed it. Thus notwithstanding the manifest integrity and independence of the Ssempebwa commissioners, the country would feel at ease with the assurance that none of them aspires to Parliament or to a political appointment!
And V.C. Bukenya�s (Cabinet�s) biddings?
The Monitor of September 24 underscored six demands of the Executive:
(1). Lift the presidential term limit. This would protect the incumbent from retiring into exile or prison; as practically every African president is impeachment candidate.
But the way to secure their protection is, in my view, neither making an unpopular government more burdensome by enlarging the presidential protection brigade ten times, nor by tampering with the constitution, forget chest thumping.
It is, I believe, through the executive facilitating a national conference of all stakeholders, and gently inspiring mutual assurances of forgiveness; similar to President Moi�s unassuming approach that earned him an initial soft landing. The Monitor�s editorial of September 25 was relevant.
(2). Grant dual citizenship. Yes, in the interests of our exported labour to the Diaspora, a leading foreign exchange earner; and of investors desiring Ugandan citizenship.
(3). Give President powers to dissolve Parliament. Was the state of Uganda created for the amusement of selfish executives or for the good of all citizens? I have indicated how, through deliberate majority manipulation of the constitution-making environment and of democracy, Parliament was rendered subservient to the presidency.
This reminds me of the irony of the �Lion�s Share� where 4 hunters: Messrs Lion, Hyena, Fox and Jackal kill a buffalo, and divide it into 4 equal chunks. As King of Animals, Lion makes first choice. Being �arbiter� in the sharing out process he earns the second piece.
Having played the truly leading role in the killing, he pockets the third quarter.
�As for the remaining chunk,� roars King Leo, in menacing earnest, �I�d like to see who, among you little fellows, dares touch it.� Isn�t this what the Mighty Executive is telling MPs and voters including the living liberators of 1986? It is the sacred duty of every patriotic Ugandan to resist the monocracy that is being nurtured by the Executive!
Space precludes discussion of the hollow offer of �federo,� the subtle, but see-through, lure of a �return to multiparty politics,� curtailing powers of Parliament, disempowerment of the I.G.G. and the elimination of the Human Rights Commission. We shall, God willing, discuss these next Tuesday.
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