Leak of Constitutional Draft
Alarms Ugandan Officials
THE EASTAFRICAN
FOLLOWING THE leakage of information from a confidential report still under compilation by the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), the government has ordered its chairman, Prof Fredrick Ssempebwa, to investigate the matter and report back "within the shortest possible time."
Said Nsaba Buturo, the Minister in charge of information, in the Office of the President: "The government is surprised that such an important report found its way to the public before being presented to the relevant people."
The minister said that the report's leakage to the media before being presented to the relevant authorities was against procedure.
Last week, The Monitor, a sister newspaper to The EastAfrican, published part of the report, prompting the government to seek a High Court injunction restraining the paper from publishing more details.
According to The Monitor, the commission had rejected the Cabinet's proposal seeking to remove the two-term limit for presidents. "This drew reactions from observers against a third term for President Museveni, who said the government government was now left with the option of either tampering with the report or calling a referendum on the issue.
The committee also proposes that Members of Parliament and the president be elected on the same day in order to avoid huge expenditures on the two exercises. "The president must be elected with a vice president as a running mate," the paper quoted part of the report.
The report further recommends that the government not deploy the army to provide security during elections and the head of the electoral commission should be someone qualified to be a judge.
Partly because of the understaffing of the police force, which currently stands at about 15,000 officers, during past elections the government has been deploying the army especially in war areas, to provide security and escort election officials.
But this has been abused in many cases as the army has ended up getting involved in the political process in favour of candidates sponsored by the ruling Movement.
At the same time, in Gulu region, which has been in a state of war for more than 17 years, during past elections, rebels have been threatening voters with death if they voted for President Museveni or candidates he is perceived to support. Still, the deployment of the army alongside the police during elections has been blamed for electoral violence during elections.
The CRC has been collecting views from the public for the past two years in an effort to amend the 1995 constitution.
It was supposed to hand in its report in October, but it has been asking for extensions. Last week, CRC asked parliament to give it another extension of up to January 2004. The Commission has also asked the government for Ush852 million ($425,000) to complete its work.
Prof Ssempebwa says the report is almost ready, only requiring editing, typesetting, legal drafting and input by a legal expert.
Outspoken legislator, Jacob Oulanyah is however suspicious of the commission's expenditure.
"What kind of report is this going to be and what material will it be produced?" he asked. He said that although the cost of the report was rising, it would end up being treated like other reports produced in the past.
"It will be presented to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, who will decide what to do with it," said Mr Oulanyah. He added that the committee should have been created by an Act of parliament.
Prof Ssempebwa however promised to speak out if his report was tampered with by government officials before it came out.
"If they tamper with it, I will contest it ," he told journalists last week.
Mr Buturo however told The EastAfrican that whatever report the CRC came out with, was what will be adopted. "There is no way the government is going to adjust anything in the report," he said.
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