Peter Nyanzi
28 December 2005
Kampala — UGANDA has once again missed out on the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) because of its poor performance in political freedom and civil liberties.
The two-year-old MCA is a development initiative that was established in January 2004 when the US Congress provided nearly $1 billion in initial funding that financial year for more than a dozen selected poor countries. President George Bush has requested $3 billion for 2006 for this democracy incentive.
The blow comes at a time when US opinion leaders are still hardening their opposition to the third term in Uganda and the lifting of presidential term limits in general.
The former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Herman Cohen, told the State Department news agency on December 19 that term limits are good for all democracies because they ensure a fresh approach to problems as well as an antidote to corruption.
Cohen said presidential limits were critical because they "guarantee change" in policy and the people who surround the leader. He explained: "Not only are new ideas and reforms brought in by a new administration, but a political turnover also makes it more difficult for corruption to become entrenched because office holders will leave when a new leader is elected."
Earlier US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer had said while commenting on the lifting of presidential term limits in Uganda that the Americans "have a lot of concerns about the road that Uganda is on".
She said, "We spoke outâ-oevery clearly about President's Museveni's bid for a third term.We didn't like it" despite the fact that the Ugandan leader is going about it constitutionally.
Frazer added, "It's extremely important in Africa to respect term limits because it allows for the grooming of new leadership and supports the rule of law. In contrast, countries that have had 20 to 30-year presidents haven't developed. Having a regular turnover of power actually ingrains a democratic process. And so it's extremely important for the United States to push African heads of state to respect their term limits."
Uganda nearly made it to the list of MCA beneficiaries but it failed the score on the 'ruling justly' criteria. It also scored poorly for political rights and civil liberties.
According to the latest freedom report compiled by Freedom House, which was released on December 19, Uganda lags behind her East African neighbours in political freedom and civil liberties.
In November, Freedom House strongly lobbied against the inclusion of Uganda on the list because of its poor performance, arguing that countries with poor records on political rights and civil liberties should not be eligible to receive MCA funds.
The government had sent a ministerial team to the US to lobby for Uganda's inclusion but it failed to persuade the Americans.
The Minister of Finance Dr Ezra Suruma refused to discuss the matter when contacted, accusing Daily Monitor of "being interested in only the bad news for the country".
The 11 selected African countries from the "low income" category to benefit in FY 2006 are Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania.
Burkina Faso, The Gambia, and Tanzania, the only East African country that qualified, are MCA-eligible for the first time. In making its selection, the Board said it considered policy performance of candidate countries in three areas -- "ruling justly," "investing in people," and "encouraging economic freedom."
Tanzania praised
Cohen commended Tanzania, Ghana and Benin for showing the way with regular presidential transitions saying, "It would be a shame if Nigeria and Uganda did not do the same." According to the latest 'Freedom in the World in 2006' survey conducted by the Freedom House, a US based organisation, Uganda scored 5 and 4 on a scale of 7 in political rights and civil liberties respectively.
The survey rates each of the 192 countries on a seven-point scale for both political rights and civil liberties (1 representing the most free and 7 the least free). Kenya scored 3 in both categories while Tanzania scored 4 and 3 respectively. Tanzania was rewarded for its performance by being included on the MCA list for the first time.
The freedom findings were released on December 19 as part of Freedom House's 'Freedom in the World 2006' report, a global survey of political rights and civil liberties published annually by the organisation since 1972.
This year's survey based its evaluations on events that took place between December 1, 2004, and November 30, 2005.
Of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Freedom House categorised 11 as 'Free' (23 percent), 23 including Uganda as 'Partly Free' (48 percent), and 14 as 'Not Free' (29 per-cent). Uganda was listed as one of the "weakest performers" in the "Partly Free" category.
Govt reacts
However, in Kampala the government dismissed the American concerns saying the issue of term limits was now history. "Oh, but Ugandans made a decision on that matter long ago," said the Minister of State for Information, Dr James Nsaba Buturo. "Once Ugandans make a decision, one would expect all the others to respect it."
Members of Parliament in July voted overwhelmingly to lift term limits from the Constitution, paving way for President Yoweri Museveni to stand again after 20 years in power.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2005 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
