Angelo Izama
28 June 2008
Kampala — President Yoweri Museveni is not expected to flinch or break into a sweat when he presents Uganda's self-assessment of its democratic and economic progress to his peers tomorrow at the African Union Summit now underway at the Red Sea resort of Sham-el-Sheikh in Egypt.
Uganda is among the pioneers of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a voluntary clearing house where participating countries undergo a rigorous self-evaluation and then allow to be examined by their peers as a way of holding each other accountable to common standards of good governance.
Together with Nigeria and Burkina Faso, it will be Uganda's turn this week to be placed under scrutiny even as the global spotlight has been occupied by the political instability in Zimbabwe- the sort of break down the APRM hopes to avoid.
Critics of the process point out that the process is tantamount to a pot calling the kettle black since the current crop of continental leaders cannot be counted on to tell each other to for example reduce political violence which helps prop up their own regimes or conduct decent elections if it means they may lose.
The President will be travelling with a diverse team which includes members of the opposition which participated in the self-assessment report.
"The country report has been described by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) secretariat as the most objective so far" said Ms Christine Abia Bako (FDC, Arua) who as a commissioner has been a part of the drafting team for the report.
She said she expects the President to "be told where he has gone wrong and where he needs to improve" since "governance issues are likely to take center-stage at the summit".
The APRM is a four-tier process where a self-assessment report is produced after which an external panel produces its own evaluation. Finally the ruling government produces a report which the president presents to his peers. The final stage is the response of his peers.
The "Uganda Country Self-Assessment Report and Programme of Action" is 591 pages and weighs over five kilos. However the issues that are likely to weigh heavily on Mr Museveni is his record on political freedoms as well as social and economic rights.
The Uganda report recommends that the ruling NRM government "uphold constitutionalism and the principle of separation of powers" even as the Uganda's security agencies routinely reject court rulings the most glaring of which was the invasion of the High Court in 2005 by armed men.
Recently members of Parliament walked out of the 2008/9 budget presentation to protest what they claimed is an executive inspired crackdown on opposition rallies which resulted into the arrest and mistreatment of three MPs.
The self-assessment report gives Uganda a mixed review, extolling her record on elections, the constitutional and legal environment but also raising concerns over politically orchestrated violence that ignores constitutionally determined limits.
Saturday Monitor was unable to get the government response to the self-assessment report but the external review led by respected academic Prof. Adebayo Abeddeji says democratisation in Uganda is under pressure from " managing diversity in a country precisely as a result of two decades of war that has polarised the country along tribal and ethnic lines"
The panel which also includes Dr Graca Machel of Mozambique, the wife of President Nelson Mandela is less restrained in its view of both the good and bad of the national record.
The panel calls for the levelling of the political playing field by for example strengthening the electoral commission and making it less susceptible to manipulation, providing public funds for political parties and abolishing laws that prevent the right of assembly.
Its unclear what Mr Museveni will say about the general assessment that the executive he heads has an overwhelming influence in the political system, an influence for which he is the principal beneficiary and his political opponents are not.
Both the country self-assessment and its external review focus on what are considered best standards and then examine the performance of the country in meeting these standards.
Being voluntary, the APRM is not legally binding but countries agree that since progress is a process, by accepting to be a part of the APRM, they are defining the standards of progress that are acceptable and to which they are willing to be held accountable.
The APRM, which has grown from its pioneering 10 members to close to thirty this week, is often slammed for being a weak incentive for countries to reform.
For example the external report recommends that Uganda revisits the lifting of presidential term limits in the constitution, a political move which mainly benefited Mr Museveni, allowing him to remain in charge of the country.
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