Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni chose to steer clear of the push for constitutional and electoral reforms ahead of the General Election during his State of the Nation address on Thursday June 4.  

The President had been told by Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga that parliament and the law makers were concerned at the government’s lacklustre efforts in getting the Constitutional Amendment Bill before the House.

The Bill was tabled only in April this year — some 10 months after the June 2014 deadline that the executive set to present it in the House.

“A matter of concern that we want to raise is the late submissions of Bills by the executive, for example the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2015 was submitted on April 20, way beyond the time expected for presentation.

“I want to urge government to submit all electoral Bills if any, for consideration by parliament so that we are not stampeded because many times we may be required to make additional consultations on all these,” said Ms Kadaga.

But President Museveni remained non-committal on Ms Kadaga’s veiled barb at government’s deliberate procrastination, which donors, the opposition and constitutional governance think tank Kituo Cha Katiba said will eventually cost Ugandans a credible election in 2016.

The president said that all things related to elections are in the Constitution and he would not dwell on that.

Kituo Cha Katiba, for instance, has combed through the entire Constitution and officials argue that the supreme law needs an overhaul, “yet the Bill that the government presented to parliament in April is shallow, the proposed reforms are piecemeal and do not address what is at stake for Uganda to have a credible election and constitutional governance.

“Government proposals are less than a quarter of what we are proposing. In our view, the Bill is not even worth discussing; it is shallow and the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee agrees with us that it does not address the real concerns that Ugandans want reformed,” said Joyce Apio, Programme Manager at Kituo Cha Katiba, adding that the time between now and the February 2016 elections is not enough for parliament to deliver the desired constitutional reforms.

The reforms include, but are not limited to reconstituting and putting in place an independent electoral commission, instituting legal penalties for the rampant monetisation of politics, freeing up the political space, reviewing the positions of special interest groups in parliament to leave only persons with disabilities, and getting rid of the army, youth, women and workers representatives, Ms Apio says. 

Observers of Uganda’s politics, including European Union head of delegation to Uganda Kristian Schmidt, have described as laughable some of the reforms especially the renaming of the elections body from the Electoral Commission to the Independent Electoral Commission, as contained in the Constitution Amendment Bill that the government tabled in April. 

“Is it enough to change the name? If I suddenly call myself the Independent European Union, you would want to know on what criteria I am now suddenly independent. The recognition that it has to be seen as such is not enough. The text on the table doesn’t answer all those questions. This is where we would appeal to Ugandan civil society and political parties to come together and say to this parliament, there is now a process. There is not a lot of time, but there is a process, and if the will is there, it shouldn’t be that difficult to fix this question of the independent electoral commission,” Mr Schmidt told The EastAfrican in a recent interview.

READ: Q&A with Kristian Schmidt

The reforms being pushed by the opposition and civil society also call for the restoration into the Constitution, of presidential term limits that were controversially removed in 2005 to hand President Museveni a ticket to rule till the age limit of 75, according to the 1995 Constitution.  

“This should not even be a subject of discussion,” Ms Apio says. “The presidential term limits should be restored, and the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee totally agrees with us.”

The opposition also faulted Museveni’s stance on the long awaited reforms.

“He deliberately refused to say anything about the elections yet it is already on the menu of Ugandans. It is very disappointing so there is nothing to expect because you cannot get milk from a stone,” said Wafula Ogutu, leader of the opposition in parliament.

Museveni focused on the promise to lift Ugandans to middle income status by 2017.

Key donors like the European Union criticised the Ugandan leader, arguing that the government should fix education which provides the required human resource and scientific innovators, if the country is to achieve the middle income status it aspires to.  

“Education is suffering like health, because of the idea of frontloading infrastructure and security,” Mr Schmidt said.

Further criticism was levelled at the fact that while the government should focus on facilitating the private sector to become the driver of economic growth, the country lacks a conducive business environment in which the government provides public goods like electricity, railway transport, roads and water that the private sector needs to do business.

President Museveni’s speech — delivered during the opening of the fifth session of the Ninth Parliament in Kampala — dwelt at length on progress made and plans ahead for infrastructure like roads and electricity, railways as well as defence, reducing the cost of capital and improving scientific innovations.

In the past three years, the government has been placing emphasis on scientific innovations as a means to help the country grow its manufacturing sector. 

Although technocrats do not dispute that mega infrastructure projects are crucial for economic growth, they were eager to hear Mr Museveni give accountability on how government spent the $5 billion that was budgeted for 2014/2015 to better their lives.

“The speech should be a mix of immediate gains that people can see and feel; that they can buy cheap clothes, that their households are food secure, when they go to health facilities they will get better care, that their children are getting quality education,” said  Dr Pius Okong, chairperson Uganda Health Service Commission.