TAKING STOCK OF UGANDA'S MULTI PARTY DEMOCRACY
Uganda embraced the return to multi party politics in 2006 after major constitutional amendments in the 1995 Constitution. This was followed with the necessary amendments in the Political Parties and Organisations Act to allow political parties more freedoms to function normally.
There are, however, key political and governance issues that need to be addressed for multi party politics to take deep root in Uganda. Challenges in general, range from electoral processes that lack legitimacy and failure to carry out required electoral reforms; low capacity of the various political parties to reach out to the population; governance safeguards embedded in the legal regimes and their implementation; clear and updated voter registers acceptable by all stakeholders; early warning systems for electoral violence and how it should be avoided and/or managed; free and fair competition for state power; political and civil rights; to mention but a few.
Another key challenge facing Uganda's democracy today is the active role of the military in our politics. This started right after independence when there was mutiny in East Africa but Tanzania and Kenya downgraded their armies whereas Uganda co-opted her army into politics. There is need, therefore, to determine the future role of Uganda's military in our politics by all stakeholders.
It is important to note that a society cannot make real progress unless it has enlightened, informed and engaged a critical mass of its population prepared to act to build a brighter future. The fundamental problem in our society today is the under developed but sometimes suppressed political culture evidenced in the operations of various political parties/players as well as the State and its institutions which undermine and erode the very basic democratic foundations of the state and wider society.
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