By George Murumba

8^th Nov 2010

Uganda's Chief Justice

A senior High Court Judge has said the law needs to be changed to empower courts to ban convicted election thieves from elective politics for life, Uganda Correspondent can reveal.

Speaking to Uganda Correspondent on condition of anonymity at his Chambers within the High Court buildings in Kampala, the Judge, who says he has presided over many election petitions, said it is scandalous to allow election thieves to participate immediately after their conviction.

“…It is scandalous. Not only is it scandalous, it also defeats both the cause of justice and democracy if the law continues to allow convicted election thieves to participate in bi-elections and all subsequent national elections”, the Judge said.

In most of the cases where the election of NRM party candidates were being challenged, the Judge said, “…there was sufficient evidence for me to ban them even for life if the law had given me sufficient discretion to hand down the punishment that I thought fitted the crime”.

On Thursday last week for example, the High Court in Jinja ordered Museveni’s Internal Affairs Minister Al-Hajj Kirunda Kivejinja to pay FDC MP Abdu Katuntu Shs30.6 million as legal costs for the 2006 election petition in which Kivejinja’s victory was annulled.  If the law had already been changed as this Judge proposes, NRM’s Kivejinja would have been banned for life from Ugandan politics.

In this Judge’s view, the law needs to be changed now because the stakes in the 2011 elections are extremely high and it might be the last chance, he adds, “…to lay down an effective legal deterrent that spells out clear consequences for potential election cheats.  That will cause them to think twice before engaging in any conduct that is proscribed by law during elections”.

He also suggested that not only would such measures give Ugandan politics a much needed “dose of integrity”, but it would also “…demonstrate, perhaps for the first time, that this current government has the political will to fight corruption in every sphere of Ugandan life”.

Uganda, the Judge said, must redeem itself in the eyes of the world after this election.  He also said he will not vote in this election and that he doesn’t really care whether it is Besigye, Museveni, Otunnu, or even Beti Kamya who ends up in State House.

“…As a judicial officer, I will refrain from expressing my political preferences to Journalists like you.  What I can tell you without fear of compromising my judicial oath is that as a country, we must redeem ourselves in the eyes of the world after this election”, the Judge said.

“…It doesn’t matter to a non voter like me whether it’s Besigye, Museveni, Otunnu, or even Kamya who ends up in State House.  But it is critically important that we redeem ourselves.  Whether or not that redemption should come through a change of government and a re-introduction of term limits for the presidency is not for me to say”, the Judge stressed.

This is the second time a senior judicial officer in Uganda has called for a ban to be slapped on elections cheats.  Retired Supreme Court Judge Prof. George Kanyeihamba was the first to call for such tough punishment for election cheats.

Within the opposition, it is only FDC President Dr. Kizza Besigye and UPC’s Dr. Olara Otunnu [both of whom are contesting for the presidency in this election] who have so far said they would be prepared to support such a proposal as a means of bringing sanity to Ugandan politics.  The important thing, they stressed, is that such a ban must be “…just and proportionate to the crime”.

President Yoweri Museveni, the man whose NRM party candidates have been implicated in election theft the most has not uttered a word for or against such a proposal.  DP’s Nobert Mao and Bidandi Ssali of PPP have also not pronounced themselves on the subject.

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