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Article Published on:
15th July 2004. |
| One referendum on all amendments |
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By Emmanuel N. Mugarura & Halima Abdallah All proposed constitutional changes will be subjected to a referendum in February 2005. Voters will be required to vote �yes� or �no� to the whole Constitutional Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend more than 100 articles of the 1995 Constitution.
The amendments will include the transition from the Movement to a multi-party system and the presidential term limits. Here�s how it will work: if you are a supporter of federo and you vote �yes�, it means you will have endorsed all proposed amendments, such as lifting of the presidential term limits, return of multiparty politics or granting the president power to dissolve Parliament. If you vote �no� because you are against a third term for President Museveni, you will have rejected all proposed constitutional changes, including a return to multiparty democracy, federalism or dual citizenship. �We should dedicate ourselves to ensure that Parliament completes consideration by Christmas,� Mukwaya told Parliament. �Given this situation, it would be impracticable to prepare a bill to amend each article identified for amendment,� she added. Mukwaya said in an interview that using one bill to include all articles up for amendment is meant to cut on the costs and time. �We have a very short time and can�t afford to lose any time, what we need to do is to engage the Electoral Commission and the judges to set the question so that it is done at ago,� Mukwaya said. She explained that the process will start in Parliament as required by the Constitution, and thereafter, the Bill once passed will be referred to the people. The President will assent to the bill after the referendum. Such is the complexity of the matter that the Solicitor General and acting Attorney General, Mr Lucien Tibaruha, refused to discuss it, referring The Weekly Observer to the Electoral Commission whose only function is to organize elections. The Commission�s spokesman, Mr. Okello Jabweli, said that the electoral body is not yet aware of the voting procedure. �We wouldn�t know until Parliament passes the law. We do not know what is being planned now,� he explained. Some lawyers argue that �omnibus� voting infringes on the people�s right of choice. �It cannot work because each article of the Constitution serves a different purpose. To force people to say �yes� or �no� on everything is illegal because you have taken away the options, yet people have different views,� said UPC lawyer, Mr Peter Walubiri. The Member of Parliament for Otuke County who is also a practising lawyer, Mr Omara Atubo, described omnibus voting as �unconstitutional�. �If they make that mistake, the matter will be challenged in the Constitutional Court. We may not wait for the referendum to be held but we shall go straight to court for an injunction to stop the referendum,� Atubo said. The Uganda Law Society (ULS) says it shall come up with a position on the matter after scrutinising the White Paper and the Ssempebwa Constitutional Review report. The Society has established a 13-man Constitutional and Public interests Litigation Committee to scrutinise the proposed amendments and advise government and the public accordingly. �The committee shall be advising government and the people on the legality of all the proposed amendments to the Constitution to ensure that the amendments conform with the spirit of the Constitution,� said Mr Moses Adriko, the President of Uganda Law Society. The Society is only waiting for the Cabinet White Paper and the Ssempebwa Report to embark on the job. |
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