By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: A delegation from the European Union on Thursday night held meeting with government officials to discuss proposed electoral reforms and how to implement them.
The European Union is leading a discussion to review the status and implementation of Uganda’s electoral reforms and how to solicit funding for the 2021 general election.
The discussions started with the meeting which was held at the EU Ambassador’s residence in Kololo was led by the EU Head of Delegation Attilio Pacifici, and attended by representatives from EU partner states, the United States Ambassador to Uganda Deborah Malac and Officials from the Judiciary, led by the Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, Justice Minister Otafire Kahinda, and Attorney General William Byaruhanga.
The closed-door meeting which started after 8:00Pm, reviewed the recently tabled reforms and discussed issues of corruption in the judiciary, among others.
During his remarks to the media, before the closed session, the EU head of Delegation stated that it was purposed to have a very open and candid discussion on the matters listed on the agenda.
Pacifici said the purpose of the meeting was to ensure that Uganda, like every other States, delivers to its citizen’s, global goods of justice, security, education and health.
Recently Government tabled five electoral reform bills, among them, the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill, the Parliamentary Elections(Amendment) Bill, the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill, the Political Parties and Organization (Amendment) Bill and the Local Governments (Amendment) Bill.
The Bills seek to among other things reform electoral laws relating to the qualification of candidate’s campaign, financing and the procedure in which presidential, parliamentary, local governments elections will be held and the role of political parties and the Electoral Commission.
The Bills also seek to incorporate the ten recommendations made by the Supreme Court in the 2016 presidential election petition and the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018, which scrapped the age limit for presidential and local government candidates, extended the time for filing election petitions, hearing of petitions and the period for holding presidential by-elections when polls are nullified.
The EU in 2016 made up to 30 recommendations for electoral reforms following the election in which they among other things recommended an independent electoral commission, deletion of some clauses of the Public Order Management Act, proposals to differentiate the state from the ruling party during elections among others, although all these are yet to be implemented by government.
