President Museveni has on several times said there is no opposition in Uganda and political analysts believe that if the opposition wants to cause regime change in Uganda their main focus should not be only on removing Museveni from power.
The opposition has laid many strategies to remove Museveni from power over the years but they have failed.
In an interview with The Nile Post, the president of Justice Forum (JEEMA) also Bugiri Municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa, said the opposition in Uganda is very broke and needs resources to effect change in leadership in Uganda.
Couple of days ago you launched a campaign to diversify the message of proportional representation as an alternative electoral system. Will this system work in Uganda?
Why not? It has worked in other countries. Why can’t it work in Uganda? We have a lot of hope and confidence that it is a system that can work and it is a system that will cure so many ills in our electoral process. We think that if it is well explained and articulated to the population, is the system that can work to solve very many challenges.
Proportional representation is a form of electoral system where the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportional to the votes received by the respective party or candidates that participate in an election at a given level.
On the ballot, voters indicate their preference for a particular party (not individual candidate) and the parties then receive seats in proportion to their share of the vote. This means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received.
What is the main focus in proportional representation?
In proportional representation the focus is on the parties, not individuals and as such you are going to be able to promote multi-partyism. Under the system of winner takes it all, one of the reasons why we have low voter turnout is because people’s votes are not valued. Now in proportional representation, the political parties will get seats at different levels on the basis of votes obtained in an election.
For example, JEEMA had 30 parliamentary candidates [in 2021 general election] but it has one MP. Now in the proportional representation system, votes of all the general candidates across the country are put together and depending on the numbers that we agree upon for example you can say that for every 50,000 votes obtained by a political party, it is entitled to one MP.
It would mean that for example if we have 200,000 votes across the country for JEEMA it would have four MPs to represent it.
The party will then decide which people will occupy the seats according to the vote obtained.
You look for example Hon Robert Kyagulanyi, the votes he got [in last general election] are not commensurate with the numbers of MPs he has in Parliament. If you had proportional representation, all the votes that Hon Kyagulanyi obtained would be tabulated into seats which means every vote counts.
How will the system address the commercialisation of politics in the country?
The commercialisation that is pegged to individuals will go away. It will because whom are you going to ask the money from? They even don’t know who the party will select in this system. That is also the other aspect of it. We really think we will have a more issue based politics and that is the system that we want to share with our colleagues.
What measures has the party put in place to ensure Ugandans, even those in the villages, understand this system better?
It is a process and we are identifying the key stakeholders. First of all, we want to share it under the National Consultative Forum framework. This is a forum that brings together all registered political parties in Uganda and it is housed at the Electoral Commission. We want, through the electoral commission, to seek engagements with the leadership of various political parties and we have a discussion. Then, we move to other stakeholders, civil society, the media, and academia.
Now after building a critical mass at that level, we will then move to the public and we have nationwide engagement with the people. It is a process.
Is coalition necessary under this system and if yes, at what stage should that be done?
Coalition may not necessarily arise under proportional representation. When you are talking about proportional representation, you don’t have to even talk about coalition but it is possible. It might not be necessary because the winner will emerge naturally. There will be no need for a coalition. Because you are building institutions, each party would want to have representation, the system is structured in such a manner that every party that participates in the process has a share in the representation at various levels.
Why has JEEMA as a party failed to progress despite being around for some time?
That is a question you should ask Ugandans because we have been fronting candidates and we have not been successful but you see building an ideological party like JEEMA is not easy. It takes a process. Ugandans are not used to building institutions especially when you talk about politics. Ugandans would want to move with already established institutions but to tell them to build and grow with an institution we are not going to find so many.
What are some of the strategies that the party has laid out to make it more vibrant?
I also want you to appreciate the circumstances under which we operate. We operate in a very restrictive political environment. We also have challenges with the resources. Running a political party in this country is not very easy because the National Resistance Movement, the party in power, has built politics on a wrong premise. Political parties across the continent are people centred. It is people that make contributions to the political parties. It is a bottom to top approach. When the NRM came around, it changed that system and we are fighting against that system.
So we are struggling. Some of the things we do, most of the activities are supported by the party president. Even before I became an MP, the money I would get from my law firm used to run the activities of the party but the constraints are enormous. If you don’t break through financially, it is going to affect your activities.
Does your explanation address the complaints of the people that political parties are Kampala based?
Yes, because you don’t know what it takes to have an activity in the countryside. It is really very expensive. So be that as it may, as a strategy we have embarked on the youth engagement process and drive. We are going back to the higher institutions of learning to begin engaging the young people and making them see why JEEMA represents the future.
Most Ugandans see JEEMA as a Muslim based party. What explains that and what has the party done to change that perception?
That is ignorance, the world doesn’t owe you information. If you choose to be ignorant, it can only be your problem not the problem of anybody. Let me tell you if you read the Political Parties and Organization Act, that law doesn’t allow any political party to be established on the basis of tribe, religion or any other sectarian {sentiments}, it does not.
It is illegal to form a party on the basis of tribal or religion or other sectarian aspirations. Are you saying JEEMA exists illegally? What we are talking about is an illegal issue. By the time a political party is registered, it is beyond tribe and religious features. Anybody who said so ask them if they know five cabinet members of JEEMA including yourself. Every political party that you see in this country that is registered doesn’t not promote ethnic or tribal aspirations or interest because it is illegal.
What is your relation with the National Unity Platform(NUP)?
When I stood for speaker recently, which political party came out openly to say they are supporting me? It was NUP. What does that say about the relationship? I am the vice chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee. Who nominated me to that seat? It was NUP.
What is your position on the People Front for transitions that last time launched its activities at your offices in Kampala?
My views have been articulated by those who represent me. I have a high level delegation. One of the challenges I have had with you people in the media is to think that Basalirwa is JEEMA and JEEMA is Basalirwa and that is why people have concerns with the religion. Because Basalirwa is a Muslim, they think JEEMA is a Muslim party.
Some people claim that the current Parliament has been captured by the regime. Does it still have the capacity to check the powers of the executive?
Yes, and no. For example, aren’t you proud of Parliament over the coffee report? There will be incidents where Parliament will not disappoint and there will be incidents where it will disappoint. What I want to assure you is that as the opposition we will stick to our agenda. We have no control over what NRM says or does. What I want to inform you is that every policy, we have an alternative and we have articulated it.
We did an alternative on the budget, we have had an alternative on the state of the nation address. I am speaking as an opposition now. I think what is important is to judge us on the alternatives we have provided.
In your view, why do you think the opposition has failed to defeat Museveni after several attempts?
There are very many factors. I may not exhaust all of them. One, I think it relates to the level of civic consciousness among Ugandans.
The level of civic consciousness is still so low to champion a change. The political environment under which we operate, we are basically under a military regime, so surmounting militarism is not a simple task.
Unity of purpose is still [a challenge] in the opposition and obviously that undermines our collective effort to victory. Then, the opposition also is very poor. If you are to champion a change, you must have resources. The opposition here is not like the opposition in Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe. The opposition here is very poor. Guys here are very poor, they are broke. Political parties are very broke. What are you going to do if you don’t have enough resources?