UGANDA PEOPLES CONGRESS (Office of the President)
23 September 2004.
INDEPENDENCE DAY
MESSAGE
BY A. MILTON OBOTE
- Once more since 1986, the people of Uganda are again to mark the INDEPENDENCE DAY on 9 October under an oppressive and repressive one-Party cum military dictatorship.
- From mid-March 1986, the people of Uganda have been suffering from the oppressive and repressive loss of the legacy of Independence. The people first lost the human rights and freedoms to govern their country under the NRM edict of No Political Parties in the governance of Uganda. Second, there have been actual hot wars in various parts of Uganda even in the Democratic Republic of Congo in which probably millions have lost their lives in the northern part of Uganda composed of Acholi, Teso and Lango.
- Never since Independence in 1962, have the people of Uganda lost so many lives and lost so much human rights and freedoms in the governance of Uganda under a Constitution and governance based on frauds. The NRM edict of no political Parties in the governance of Uganda is in the 1995 Constitution, fraudulently provided.
- There are frauds in the provisions of Articles 269 and 270 both of which are based on the edict of no Parties in the Constitution which have been carried into the Political Parties and Organisations Act 2002 and into the Terms of Reference of the Constitutional Review Commission. Since the imprisoning of the Parties under Articles 269 and 270 are on frauds, Parliament which now is composed of the UPC, DP, CP and FDC members as well as the NRM should agree to compensate the Parties which suffered under the frauds and thus punish the NRM. The fraud in the provision of Article 269 is that after providing in Article 20 of the Constitution that the human rights are inherently provided by God and not granted by the State and second, after providing in Chapter Four of the Constitution an extensive list of the human rights and freedoms enjoyable and exercisable by citizens, the State has virtually imposed it that the State can grant or not grant human rights and freedoms in respect to five different ways for the citizen not to have and not to operate a functioning political Party.
- The five different ways in Article 269 are that: -
(i) No opposition political Party is permitted to open and operate its branch offices (structures that made it a national Party).
(ii) No opposition political Party is permitted to hold its Annual Convention or Conference to elect its National Leaders or formulate its National policies on any matter.
(iii) No opposition political Party is permitted to hold or convene any public rally or meeting.
(iv) No opposition Party is permitted to sponsor or offer a platform in any campaign for or against any candidate in any public election.
(v) No opposition political Party is permitted to carry out any activities that may interfere with the political system established by the NRA the ruling army and its political wing the NRM for the time being in force.
- The five different prohibitions imposed by the State in Article 269 against an opposition Party for its members not to enjoy the human rights or freedoms when Article 20 provides that human rights are inherent and not granted by the State make Article 269 fraudulent and the political Parties which have suffered because of the fraud should be paid compensation calculated on the number of members each Party had in Parliament on 26 January 1986 which is the day the NRA and NRM Declared in their Proclamation that political Parties are not wanted in the governance of Uganda.
- The fraud in Article 270 lies in the provision of Article 263 (b) which reads as follows ""as far as possible, exercise its functions in such a manner and with such modifications as are necessary to bring them into conformity with the provisions of this Constitution" and which the NRM Government never implemented and which failure led to the continued imprisonment of Parties which existed before the Constitution under Article 270 to date. The provision in quotes was put in the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly whose elections the political Parties imprisoned under Article 270 were debarred suggesting that the NRM had all the time the idea of imprisoning the Parties as the extension of imprisonment into PPOA 2002 shows and into the Terms of Reference of the Constitutional Review Commission showed. All the opposition Parties in G7 should be compensated for loss of human rights and freedoms to campaign and be active. The imprisonment of the Parties is now being argued under PPOA 2002 that the Parties have not registered when part of the reason for not registering is in the State granting human rights and freedoms under Articles 269 and 270 as well as the state acting fraudulently.
- The five different prohibitions imposed by the State in Article 269 against all opposition Parties from the promulgation of the Constitution on 8 October 1995 to date not to enjoy human rights and freedoms when in Article 20, the Constitution provides that human rights are inherent and not granted by the State make Article 269 fraudulent and the Parties which have suffered since 8 October 1995 to date on account of the fraud in Article 269 must be paid compensation.
- As for the fraud in Article 270 it is clear that the NRM Government never implemented the provision in Article 263(b) and has compounded the sufferance of the Parties by extending that failure into PPOA 2002 and into Terms of reference (a) of the CRC and in the White Paper. Each of the parties affected must be paid compensation particularly now that Parliament is now composed of the DP, UPC, CP and FDC.
- With the implementation of the proposed multipartyism, it would be most appropriate to award the Parties which suffered on account of frauds as a lesson to all Parties to take most seriously and strictly the human rights and freedoms provided in the Constitution.
- There are two matters of particular importance at this Independence Day. The first is that the human rights and freedoms as made part of the Constitution at the 1962 London Constitutional Conference by the UPC, its very essential part of the notion of "Except with his own consent, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his human right or freedom" was cut-off by the Odoki Draft from the appropriate provisions in the Constitution instead of being made to apply to more provisions in the Constitution and by accepting the Odoki draft, the Constituent Assembly gave the NRM a very wide berth to violate the human rights and freedoms as well as refuse to make the human rights and freedoms the legacy of the Constitution.
- Secondly nothing which was unacceptable to the UPC in 1962 entered into the Constitution. After summarising the fundamental human rights and freedoms enjoyable and exercisable by the individual, the UPC made the summary in what became Article 17 of the 1967 Constitution and the provisions of human rights and freedoms in the Constitution were first provided under Legal protection and after Article 25 of the 1967 Constitution, the Constitution has the notion of one's consent, which notion was cut-off by the Odoki Draft to give the NRM a wide berth to violate the human rights and freedoms in the Constitution. The NRM takes the blame but the originator was the Odoki Draft Constitution.
- The imprisonment of opposition Parties on frauds put in the Constitution by the NRM, enabled it to establish a one-Party cum military dictatorship and also to plagiarise the economic policy of the UPC and to publish it as NRM policy for which the NRM received much praise from donors. The NRM has also established a one Party very corrupt dictatorship.
- Many African countries are endeavouring to consolidate democracies, while in Uganda even the democratic donors appear to want us to consolidate a manipulating, corrupt and massacring dictatorship otherwise they would not be so eager to provide subvention to such a dictatorship.
For God and my Country
A. Milton Obote