Since President Museveni rubbished the need for fundamental electoral reforms, there have been two significant political-diplomatic developments this week. First, Ambassador Vincent De Visscher, the head of the European Union Commission's Delegation to Uganda, said this week that the government should adopt and implement the 2006 Presidential and Parliamentary Election EU's observer team recommendations that were aimed at increasing transparency in the voting process. ("EU backs electoral reforms", Daily Monitor, July 7).

Second, Jeema president Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja wrote to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, imploring him to prevail on the regime in Kampala to respond to the desires of Ugandans and the good intentioned international community to implement electoral reforms. (Letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Daily Monitor, July 7).

Mayanja wrote in part: "Your Excellency, we wish to appeal to you to use your good offices to prevail upon the NRM government to reinstate the presidential term limit immediately as a means of restoring the confidence of the people in democracy and averting the spectre of a life presidency and a perpetual incumbency which has undermined free and fair elections over the last 15 years."

In the same breath, Ambassador De Visscher argued: "In order to have a vibrant democracy, you have to have a framework that allows this democracy to be expressed." Mr De Visscher, who was speaking at a ceremony to announce the donation of Euros30 million (Shs 87 billion) to Uganda, said the government needed to go beyond "a routine work of business as usual and to look deeply into the recommendations not only from the EU observations but also other countries that have observed the elections.

Visscher recalled that "key among the 2006 recommendations by the EU observers included; reinstating the two-term limits as stated in the 1995 Constitution, ending unreasonable and discriminatory requirements for candidacy, removal of guaranteed seats for the army, youth and workers, and enhancing procedure for making complaints, and allowing Ugandans abroad to vote. These are the same demands that the Inter-Party Cooperation, a formal grouping of four political parties represented in Parliament: CP, Jeema, FDC and UPC have made.

Seeking a pre-emptive, pro-active role of the UN to avoid the infamous fire-fighting response of the UN like what happened in the recent Kenya post election debacle, Mayanja argued: "The UN should assume a direct role in the next elections, to enforce the minimum democratic benchmarks as defined by the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU). UN should get directly involved in all processes right from making appropriate laws, appointment of EC, and supervision of the 2011 elections in Uganda. Alternatively, we appeal to you to put pressure on President Museveni, to enact free and fair electoral laws on the basis of the petition which was handed over to the Speaker of Parliament by opposition political parties." Such actions, he added, "will restore confidence in the democratic process in Uganda".

That the EU has come out openly and timely to comment on its own desire for electoral reforms in Uganda confirms that President Museveni is increasingly appearing out of touch with reality when he pretends to ignore a key democratic pre-requisite. The reading of the political atmosphere in Uganda points to the stark fact that it is electoral reforms that will shape the 2011 election year. President Museveni's regime has a clear choice: To bungle the election even long before it is held by rubbishing recommendations for electoral reform, or to prepare ground for a peaceful democratic transition.

The EU Ambassador's remarks have globalised the Inter-Party Cooperation's genuine demands for reform. But more importantly, they have solidified the agenda for the common electoral platform that the IPC is discussing in a week's time, thus placing "corruption" and "electoral reforms" at the centre stage of political agitation in Uganda.