NRM national executive committee members in a past meeting at State
House Entebbe. Uganda's ruling party gets the lion's share of political
party funding. PHOTO | FILE
NATION MEDIA GROUP
By CHARLES MWANGUHYA MPAGI
In Summary
- Across the region, political parties are facing a torrid time, with little financing, restrictive laws on mobilising funds, especially from external sources, and dominant ruling parties that feed off the state — a situation that makes for a generally weak political party foundation.
- While incumbent parties look strong, are flush with cash and have countrywide networks, experts warn that that strength is hinged on their stay in power — were they to turn into an opposition party, their existence would not be guaranteed.
- Complaints of an uneven political playing field persist and while the EAC partner states have made attempts to provide statutory financing, critics say the funding is too little or skewed and at best cosmetic.
If the functioning and welfare of political parties were a
measure of a country’s democracy, how would the East African region
fare?
Currently, multipartyism is more or less taken as the universal
standard of democracy, of course when accompanied by regular elections.
Though most of Africa has adopted this standard with some nudging from
the West, pockets of resistance remain on whether parties and elections
equal democracy.
The funding systems set up by governments in the region and
freedom for the parties to mobilise their resources is a safe good
measure to test the region’s commitment to functional political parties
and democracy.
The scorecard for East Africa turns out to be mixed. Across the
region, political parties are facing a torrid time, with little
financing, restrictive laws on mobilising funds, especially from
external sources, and dominant ruling parties that feed off the state — a
situation that makes for a generally weak political party foundation.
Complaints of an uneven political playing field persist and
while the EAC partner states have made attempts to provide statutory
financing, critics say the funding is too little or skewed and at best
cosmetic.
While incumbent parties look strong, are flush with cash and
have countrywide networks, experts warn that that strength is hinged on
their stay in power — were they to turn into an opposition party, their
existence would not be guaranteed.
Political observers say this is true for the deeply entrenched
incumbent parties like Uganda’s National Resistance Movement (NRM), the
Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) and Tanzania’s Chama cha Mapinduzi.
CCM has been in power since independence in 1963, including the
tenure of its predecessor, the Tanganyika African National Union (Tanu);
in Kigali, the RPF has held the reins since the end of the genocide in
1994 while Uganda’s NRM party has been in charge for 31 years.
Kenya is keeping the region baffled by the rate at which new
political formations emerge and the fluidity with which politicians move
from one party to another.
Uganda Democratic Party MP Muwanga Kivumbi said the question of
political party financing is critical if East Africa is to lay claim to
be aspiring democratic bloc. Mr Kivumbi helped research a book project
for former party president Kawanga Ssemogere on political financing in
Uganda.
“Our finding was that parties are poor and when you are poor,
you cannot do politics,” said Conrad Adenuer of the German think tank
that supported the book project.
Mr Kivumbi said the parties in power cannot be described as
political parties because they are “state parties and therefore not in
the same league.”
In reference to the legal mandate for the government to fund
parties under the Political Parties and Organisations Act 2010, Mr
Kivumbi said: “The current financing system is not fair because it
considers numerical strength in parliament, so for a party like DP that
only has 15 members in the House, we walk away with peanut
He said a different formula should be used to calculate the
amount of funding parties receive, especially because current mechanisms
are inadequate.
“Whoever receives the money can spend it the way they want.
There is no requirement to seek the approval of the delegates conference
or the party council,” said Mr Kivumbi.
Under both the amended Electoral Commission Act and the
Political Parties and Organisations Act, parties are required to file
annual returns with the political parties registration desk at the
Electoral Commission. However, this requirement, which attracts a harsh
penalty of deregistration, is hardly complied with and where it is, no
effort to verify the accounts is made.
According to Jovita Byamugisha, Acting secretary to the Uganda
Electoral Commission, parties that received the statutory funding last
year are yet to account for the funds.
“It’s a process that requires the parties to have their books
audited, after which they are submitted to the Electoral Commission. The
financial year has just ended on June 30, so within the next six
months, the parties are expected to complete this process,” said Ms
Byamugisha.
Crispy Kaheru, co-ordinator of the civil society group Citizens
Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda is also critical of the
funding system, saying: “The model is not effective because it is not
inclusive, it strengthens already strong parties while disenfranchising
poor but idea-based parties.”
An official close to former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC)
presidential candidate Kizza Besigye said: “Sometimes we would be there
wondering where the money even for fuel to go to a rally was coming from
and Dr Besigye would go into the house, come back with some money and
tell us to go ahead with our campaigns. We never bothered to ask where
the money came from.”
Party funding
In 2015, the Uganda Electoral Commission operationalised a
provision for party financing in the Political Parties and
Organisation’s Act 2010 and gave all parties represented in parliament
funds in accordance with their numerical strength in the house.
The ruling NRM walked away with the lion’s share of Ush8.2
billion ($2.4 million) followed by the Forum for Democratic Change,
which received Ush1.4 billion ($412,400); UPC got Ush309 million ($91,000); DP received Ush464 million ($136,700); Jeema and the Conservative Party each got Ush30.9 million ($9,100).
There were 29 registered Political parties in Uganda as at end of 2015.
The Electoral Commission deregistered five political parties for
non-compliance with the Political Parties and Organisations Act.
$1 = Ush3,394.66 (July 2, 2016)
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