Intrigues abound as a record 43 Ugandan MPs vie for EALA seats

EALA in session. About 43 Uganda MPs are vying to represent the country at the regional body. PHOTO | FILE 

By DICTA ASIIMWE

In Summary

• Having completed the NRM primaries on February 8, the next fight will be between opposition political parties, as the FDC tries to reclaim the two slots it lost to UPC and DP in 2012.
• President Museveni, who has himself been accused of using money to win elections, was embarrassed and angry at the chaos of his party’s EALA primaries and warned that continued reliance on money to win elections would in the long run create voter apathy.

A week that witnessed ugly scenes of parliamentarians fighting at State House over who will represent Uganda at the East African Legislative Assembly finally came to an end on February 9, following the successful nomination of a record 43 candidates.

Those nominated are six candidates from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), 33 independent candidates, two from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and one candidate each from the Uganda People’s Congress and the Democratic Party. 

Having completed the NRM primaries on February 8, the next fight will be between opposition political parties, as the FDC tries to reclaim the two slots it lost to UPC and DP in 2012.

The FDC boycotted the elections in 2012 after it was forced to compete for the positions with DP and UPC, while NRM continued to hold onto the six slots it already had.  

Opposition parties had hoped that the ruling NRM party would — in line with the EALA requirement for member countries to send representatives that reflect different shades of political opinion and special interest groups — cede at least one seat out of its current six.

If that had happened, the three opposition parties represented in parliament had hoped they would each take one slot — with DP and UPC returning their current representatives while the fourth seat would either go back to the incumbent independent delegate Susan Nakawuki or be contested for by any of the 33 other independent candidates.

Come to blows

The NRM has already experienced internal wrangles that saw MPs almost come to blows at State House Entebbe earlier in the week. Talk of money being used to buy off MPs who form the electoral college forced the party’s chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, to chastise party members.

Tanga Odoi, the NRM electoral commission chairman, survived turmoil at the NRM party caucus meeting to select the six party delegates after allegedly changing rules midway through the process. There were allegations of some EALA aspirants bribing members of the electoral college, which is made up of Members of Parliament. 

President Museveni, who has himself been accused of using money to win elections, was embarrassed and angry at the chaos of his party’s EALA primaries and warned that continued reliance on money to win elections would in the long run create voter apathy. He said voter bribery would compromise democracy and the rule of law, for which he and the NRM party fought.

President Museveni also warned EALA aspirants against looking at the regional assembly as an employment bureau for jobless politicians. He told them that EALA representatives should focus on fighting non-tariff barriers, so that Ugandans can trade more with the region.

With NRM ring-fencing six EALA slots, it is likely that FDC, which has the second largest number of MPs, will again be left out of EALA. Political analysts warn that extending the divisiveness of local politics to the regional body will hurt Uganda’s effectiveness in negotiating better terms for the country.