Africa-Press – Uganda. If you are an admirer of President Museveni, last week’s inauguration of Kenya’s fifth president was an endorsement worth keeping dear.
President William Ruto introduced him as the father of the region. Mr Museveni is a well of knowledge on East African affairs.
Having been in power for nearly four decades, he will always be a reference point upon which the East Africa Community (EAC) is hinged.
Every five years, the regional parliament of the EAC, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), goes to the polls among the member states.
Uganda’s process is ongoing ahead of the election of nine representatives by the nation’s Parliament on September 30.
The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) decided to assume complete control of deciding who goes to Eala.
Consolidating an earlier decision by the Central Executive Committee (CEC) to maintain the incumbent NRM MPs, the party, owing to their numerical strength in parliament, has also decided on who represents the opposition.
Each EAC member state is allotted nine elective positions at the Arusha-based Eala. In Uganda, six are ring-fenced for the ruling NRM; one goes to independents while the rest of the Opposition parties are left to battle for two.
An NRM parliamentary caucus meeting at Kololo Ceremonial grounds chaird by President Museveni resolved to endorse the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), Democratic Party (DP) and the Truth and Justice Party (Jeema) for Eala.
Fred Ebil (UPC) and Gerald Siranda (DP) are expected to sail through. It’s also likely that the independent candidate must seek Jeema’s backing since the caucus resolved to pick an NRM-leaning legislator.
In addition, President Museveni described the National Unity Platform (NUP) and the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), the two leading opposition parties in parliament going by numerical strength, as ‘hostile.’
NUP have already opted out of the procession while FDC’s deputy secretary general Harold Kaija is standing despite his chances being slim.
Candidates who want to join Eala in Uganda must have the blessing of the NRM party, which has the majority in the Ugandan Parliament.
Surely, a good democracy needs alternative voices to keep the ruling government in check. By choosing who goes to Eala for all, NRM is clearly showing its greed and stifling the ability to hear from all.
It’s also not true that only the ruling party has the best interests of Uganda in EALA, and the EAC.
Good governance can only be built on having a wide pool of ideas.
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