By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
Uganda’s second oldest political party, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has tasked the government to implement Section 14 A (b) of Political Parties and Organisations Act (as amended) to equally finance political parties during campaigns.
“Section 14 A (b) of Political Parties and Organisations Act as amended, “in respect of elections, Government shall finance political organisations and parties on equal basis”, has never been implemented! All key stakeholders need to refocus on this and proceed decisively as we move to improve our electoral processes,” said Faizo Muzeyi.
Initially, Parliament has every year been appropriating about Shs10 billion to be shared by all political parties who have representation in parliament under Section 14 A (a), but the was was increased to Shs35 billion as a result of the 2018 IPOD summit which sat at Speke Resort in Munyonyo. The law stipulated that the money is shared depending on numerical strength of political parties.
Faizo however says that there is a need to also implement Section 14 A (b) which calls for financing of political organizations and parties on equal basis during election campaigns.
The UPC also called for implementation of other electoral reforms that were recommended after the 2021 general elections to ensure improved free and fair elections in 2026.
“As we prepare for 2025/2026 General Elections, UPC is demanding for the implementation of electoral reforms that can ease the campaigns and polling,” UPC demands.
Relatedly, UPC called for a select committee to approve commissioners to the Independent Electoral Commission of Uganda as opposed to the recent criteria where the authority to appoint is in the powers of the president.
The call follows the expiration of the EC chairperson Justice Simon Mugyenyi Byabakama and five of his commissioners namely deputy chairperson his Hajjat Aisha Lubaga Basajjabaku, Steven Tashobya, Nathalie Etomaru, Al-Hajji Ssebagala M Kigozi and James Peter Emorut on Sunday January 7. The seventh commissioner, Justine Ahabwe Mugabi was not eligible for another term because she had served a maximum of two terms.
Although the six commissioners are awaiting for the president to renew their contracts, eminent people and opposition political party leaders argue that there should be changes with the objective to replace the present arbitrary system of appointments of elections chief commissioner and other commissioners thus demanding for a select committee to approve the candidates.
