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EC’s Byabakama bounces back to mixed reviews
Justice Simon Byabakama, the EC chairperson, appears at Parliament recently. PHOTO/FILe
What you need to know:
- Opposition politicians yesterday said Mr Byabakama’s return alongside former ruling party politicians casts a partisan shadow over the Commission.
The reappointment of Justice Simon Byabakama as chair of the Electoral Commission has drawn mixed reactions.
Opposition politicians yesterday said Mr Byabakama’s return alongside former ruling party politicians casts a partisan shadow over the Commission.
Mr Lewis Rubongoya, secretary general of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, told the Monitor the reappointment was an absurdity.
“You can see how ridiculous it is. You have Justice Byabakama who was prosecuting [Opposition stalwart] Dr Kizza Besigye; Tashobya and Kasule and Okello, all former National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs. If you have all these serving on a commission that is meant to be independent, what do you expect?” Mr Rubongoya said.
“Museveni is showing you that there is no more pretence; this is his commission,” he added, also stating that a NUP statement [on the matter] would be issued in due course.
In a rejoinder, Mr Emmanuel Dombo, the NRM head of publicity, downplayed fears that the NRM MPs, now turned commissioners would favour the ruling party.
“The work of the commission is basically to implement the law as required by the Constitution and the various election laws that we have in the country…,”he said.
“...elections are determined either at the polling station or at the district and it is the results from the district that are submitted to the Commission for them to be tallied for the final [results] at the presidential level”.
Favouring the ruling party, Mr Dombo said, would be a betrayal of the Commission’s mandate.
“So, I don’t see the Commission at all favouring NRM just because the members were from the NRM party. If they do that, then, they would have failed in exercising their mandate as required by the law.”
Some political commentators told this publication that the appointments are more about rewarding loyalty.
“[Byabakama’s] re-appointment is not a surprise because it is an indication that he must have done a great job for the ruling government during the 2021 elections. … This whole facade is not right,” said Mr Sultan Juma Kakuba, head of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Kyambogo University.
(Let to right) Electoral Commission members Stephen Tashobya, Justice Simon Byabakama (chairperson) and Hajjati Aisha Lubega during a pre-polling meeting at Dwoli Primary School in Hoima District on September 13, 2023. Photo | File
“It is very unfair for a prospective candidate to have the power to appoint the EC boss. It is not proper and does not make sense”.
President Museveni in a January 5 letter made fresh appointments to the EC team, following the expiration of the tenure of the commissioners who organised the 2021 general election.
Mr Byabakama, his deputy Hajjati Aisha Lubega, and former MP Mr Stephen Tashobya were reappointed to serve their second and last term.
New appointees include Dr Sallie Simba Kayunga, a political science and public administration lecturer at Makerere University; Mr Anthony Okello, former Kyoga County MP; Mr Robert Kasule Sebunya, former Nansana MP and Ms Pamela Etonu Okudi, the Commission’s acting head of administration.
They now await vetting by Parliament’s Appointment Committee chaired by Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, before being confirmed in office.
If confirmed, they will serve for seven years, as provided under Article 60 of the Constitution.
Away from the obvious constitutional mandate, political players say the Commission faces an uphill task of building public trust in electoral processes – especially given the backdrop of enduring allegations made by NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) and others that the last election was rigged with the connivance of the EC.
Mr Kyagulanyi challenged Mr Museveni’s 2021 election as a sham in the Supreme Court but was unsuccessful, even as he pointed out that he was unable to gather all the available evidence, having been forcibly kept under house arrest by the army.
“Justice Byabakama is a very sober person, a person of integrity. The way the commissioners are appointed is the problem...The allegiance of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission should be to the people of Uganda, not one man,” Mr Fred Ebil, secretary general at the Uganda Peoples Congress, opined.
The executive director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance, Ms Sarah Bireete urged Mr Byabakama to reflect on the words he said when first assuming office in 2016.
“He said there would be no need for vagueness, no pre-ticked ballots, no ghost voters,” Ms Bireete said.
