Thirty one years ago, a fortnight ago, Committee Five of the Constituent Assembly (CA) passed and recommended to the plenary an amendment that provided for the structure of the Movement.
The amendment was passed on December 7, 1994.
The document was the product of concerted efforts of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) caucus in the CA, the NRM Secretariat and President Museveni.
According to The Monitor of December 9, 1994, the amendment, which established a 1,400-member National Convention, a Standing Committee of the Convention, a Movement Secretariat, Resistance Councils and Committees, and also opened a window for Parliament to create other organs which could be added to the said structure, was tabled by Lt Noble Mayombo.
Mayombo was one of the National Resistance Army (NRA) delegates to the Assembly. He died on May 1, 2007, aged 42 and at the rank of a Brigadier.
The amendment also provided for the functions of the various organs of the Movement that had been proposed. However, according to the newspaper, the committee had earlier rejected an amendment tabled by another NRA delegate, Maj Gen David Tinyefuza (now Sejusa).
“The national convention and all its sub-committees shall perform such functions, duties and roles which concern the movement save those functions, duties and roles specifically assigned to Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary under this constitution,’ Gen Sejusa had proposed.
The newspaper reported that in a move that looked like one aimed at constitutionalising the status quo, Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana, who was the CA delegate representing Rushenyi County in Ntungamo, and Col Kahinda Otafiire, who was the delegate representing Ruhinda County in Bushenyi, now Mitooma District, moved an amendment to Article 96 of the draft constitution.
The Article in question read that, ‘During any period when the Movement is in existence, political parties shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to, or in any way campaign for or against a candidate for any public election.’
They moved that it be amended to read that, ‘During any period when the Movement is in charge of the governance of the country, political parties shall be kept in abeyance and in particular they shall not:-
(a) Open party branch offices (b) hold delegates’ conferences (c) sponsor, offer a platform to, or in any way campaign for or against a candidate for any public election.’
The amendment further proposed that, ‘However, subject to the provisions of this constitution, the parties may during the said period, (a) operate headquarter offices (b) own newspapers and other publications (c) hold national executive meetings shops (d) hold seminars and workshops (e) subject to the provisions of this Article carry out any other activity as may be authorised by law.’
According to the newspaper, Mr Rukutana argued that the amendment was consequential to what had already been passed and that it would provide clarity when one system is in governance.
“The two systems may co-exist, but cannot co-operate (operate at the same time) otherwise there would be confusion and chaos,’ he said.
The lawyer-turned-politician also argued that the amendment was aimed at allaying the fears of those who had previously claimed that the Movement was set on killing political parties.
“Parties can operate using means that do not interfere with the peace,’ Mr Rukutana argued.
According to the newspaper, the amendment was supported by Ms Mary Nsangi Kakembo, who was the Woman delegate representing Kalangala District.
‘I cannot imagine two political systems operating in the country at the same time,’ she said.
Ms Kakembo was elected to represent Kalangala in the 6th Parliament and served as State minister for Youth and Children’s Affairs. She quit elective politics in 2006.
Quorum issues
According to the newspaper, even after the structures had been passed, there were concerns about what looked like a consistent lack of quorum, which was pegging back the work of the committee.
The newspaper reported that by 11am on December 08, 1994, when the committee’s chairperson, Mr Sam Kutesa, adjourned, only 15 delegates were in attendance.
The situation, according to the newspaper, prompted Mr Edward Francis Babu, the Delegate for Kampala Central, to chip in a word before the adjournment.
Mr Babu proposed that the committee adopt more stringent measures to handle this lack of quorum, one being to adjourn after only one hour in case there was no quorum.
Mr Amama Mbabazi, the delegate for Kinkizi West, proposed naming and shaming members of the committee who were skipping sessions.
‘We should so that their people and the population devise a method of exposing them know that the people they sent here are not doing their job,’ he said.
Amama said when the Bill to extend the life of the CA was tabled before the National Resistance Council (NRC) on December 7, 1994, it was received with some hostility.
‘There was some hostility because of the way we conduct ourselves generally in the CA. And of course, Committee Five has not been a leading example of exemplary conduct,’ he said.
Mr Kutesa revealed that he intended to write to all the delegates who had been persistently absenting themselves.
“We shall name them here, and I shall revive my radio announcement theory so that people know what they are doing [or not doing],” he said.
Mr Peter Akure, the Delegate for Jie County, asked for the telephone numbers of all members of the committee so that he could contact them every morning.
“If we begin to relax, I don’t know how far we shall go with this committee… Yesterday in the NRC, it was a war, and our committee was identified as one of those which are lazy,’ he said.
The lack of quorum was partly due to the decision by members of the National Caucus for Democracy (NCD) to stay away.
On December 7, 1994, it was agreed in a meeting between the chairperson of the CA, James Wapakhabulo, the chairperson of the Committee Five, Mr Kutesa, the chairperson of the Legal and Drafting Committee, Prof George Kanyeihamba, and members of the NCD that the controversial Articles which led to the walkout would be revisited.
There had been indications that the dissenting delegates would then resume attending committee sessions, but that was not the case.
Army stays
Meanwhile, a day before Committee Five passed the Movement structures, the question of whether the army should be allowed to remain in politics or be confined to the barracks was reported to have provoked a heated debate in Committee Two of the CA.
The debate was triggered by a proposed amendment made by Mr Daniel Omara Atubo, who was the delegate for Otuke County, then a part of Lira. The county has since been elevated to district status.
Mr Atubo’s proposed amendment to Article 131 of the draft constitution has sought to remove the army from the list of interest groups that were to be represented in Parliament. The other groups in the draft were the women, youth and persons living with disability.
He argued that the army is not an interest group, but an administrative arm of the State and that “they have no justification whatsoever to elevate themselves to be represented in Parliament’.
“We have police, prisons, judges, civil service [etc], all are specialised arms of government, and none of them is being represented,’ he said.
Quoting Article 231 passed by Committee Three, Atubo said the army was supposed to be non-partisan and subordinate to civilian rule and that under a multi-party system, “who is the army [representatives] going to support in Parliament?”
According to the newspaper, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, who was the CA delegate for Bukonzo West, warned against locking the army out of politics.
“It cannot be denied that the army everywhere in the world plays a role in politics, applying useful but sometimes dangerous weapons,’ he argued.
Dr Kiyonga said if the army felt that it had been left out, it could react badly by staging a military coup.
The newspaper further reported that Mr John Eresu, who was the CA delegate for Kaberamaido County, described the army as a means of coercion used to entrench a system in power.
He argued that the peace that Ugandans were enjoying was still fragile and warned that the army which ushered in the little peace could be the same army to remove the peace if it is excluded from the political process.
Eresu did not mind the army being in Parliament as a temporary interest group, “so that as time goes by and we consolidate our democracy and peace, the interest groups could well be phased out”.
The motion was lost on eight votes for and 27 against.
That, according to the newspaper, meant that civilian legislators had to find a way of comfortably sitting next to men and women in uniform.