Uganda: Dormant Parties - EC Going to Court

The Observer (Kampala)
By Edward Ssekika

Only two party executives of the eight summoned by the Electoral Commission (EC) to show cause why their political parties should not be de-registered turned up last week. The Observer has learnt that this prompted the EC to take the next step in cracking the whip on at least six political parties and organizations in the country, the commission considers to be 'inactive'. The decision follows the failure of the affected political parties to comply with the provisions of the Political Parties and Organizations Act (PPOA), 2005.

According to PPOA, all registered political parties are supposed to have offices and submit audited accounts annually and democratically change party leadership through national delegates' conferences. However, the eight political parties have not been complying with these provisions.

The parties that face deregistration are; Action Party, Bridge Party, National Redemption Party, New Order Democracy, People's Independent Party, Progressive Alliance Party, Reform Party and Uganda Mandate Party. These parties along with Social Democratic Party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Movement Volunteer Mobilizers Organization were supposed to attend a meeting at the EC to explain their inactivity.

According to EC spokesman Jotham Taremwa, the parties were expected to explain why they had not been complying with the PPOA. However, only the Social Democratic Party and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) turned up for the meeting and were spared.

The Movement Volunteer Mobilizers Organization later requested for the meeting to be postponed, arguing that the party leader had other urgent issues to attend to. About the parties that did not comply, Taremwa was emphatic.

"We are now left with no option but to invoke section 21 of the PPOA, and write to court to deregister these parties," Taremwa said. "These parties have stressed the commission to unimaginable levels.

He added that the EC would scale up the party's compliance levels. The EC supervises 38 registered political parties, but only six are represented in Parliament. Other active parties include Uganda Federal Alliance, Social Democratic Party, People's Development Party, People's Progressive Party, and Forum for Integrity in Leadership.