UGANDA DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT: REPUBLIC OF UGANDA, 2005 01 NOVEMBER 2005 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by ARD, Inc. This report is prepared by: ARD, Inc. 159 Bank Street, Suite 300 Burlington, Vermont 05401 USA Telephone: (802) 658-3890 Fax: (802) 658-4247 E-Mail: [email protected] USAID Contract No. DFD-I-00-04-00227-00 Analytical Services II Indefinite Quantity Contract DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT: REPUBLIC OF UGANDA, 2005 NOVEMBER 2005 DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. Map of Uganda CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................. iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................... v 1.0 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 1.1 INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND METHODOLOGY ................................1 1.2 OVERVIEW.................................................................................................2 1.3 LONG-TERM TRENDS IN UGANDAN POLITICS .....................................3 1.3.1 AUTHORITARIANISM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE DEMOCRATIC WILL, 1962–1986....................................................3 1.3.2 REDEFINING GOVERNANCE: AN INCLUSIVE, BROAD-BASED MOVEMENT SYSTEM, 1986–1995.................................................5 1.3.3 REDEFINING THE POLITICAL SPACE: THE NRM, 1996-2001.....5 1.3.4 POLITICAL SUCCESSION AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF THE NO PARTY DEMOCRACY, 2001–2005...........................................7 1.4 RECENT POLITICAL CHANGES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS..............10 2.0 DIMENSIONS OF GOVERNANCE...............................................................13 2.1 CONSENSUS ...........................................................................................13 2.2 INCLUSION ..............................................................................................13 2.3 COMPETITION .........................................................................................14 2.4 GOVERNANCE AND THE RULE OF LAW..............................................15 2.6 FRAGILITY ...............................................................................................16 2.7 THE PROBLEM DISTILLED.....................................................................18 3.0 ARENAS OF POLITICS: KEY ACTORS, INSTITUTIONS, AND POLICIES ....................................................................................................................21 3.1 PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY ..................................................................21 3.1.1 FORMAL AND INFORMAL ROLES ...............................................21 3.1.2 WEAK SEPARATION OF POWERS AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF PERSONAL RULE ...................................................................22 3.1.3 THE MILITARY IN POLITICS.........................................................23 3.1.4 MANAGING THE CONFLICT IN THE NORTH ..............................26 3.1.5 APPROACHES TO LEGITIMIZATION...........................................29 DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT FOR UGANDA i 3.2 THE COMPETITIVE ARENA....................................................................30 3.2.1 ELECTIONS, REFERENDA, AND THE UNCERTAIN MEANING OF PARTICIPATION ............................................................................30 3.2.2 LEGISLATIVE POWER (SIXTH AND SEVENTH PARLIAMENTS) ........................................................................................................32 3.2.3 THE RETURN TO MULTI-PARTY POLITICS, PARTY DEVELOPMENT, AND POLITICAL OPPOSITION........................33 3.3 THE BROADER GOVERNANCE ARENA................................................35 3.3.1 AUTHORITY AND ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY.........................................................................35 3.3.2 CORRUPTION................................................................................37 3.3.3 RULE OF LAW ...............................................................................38 3.3.4 CHANGING PATTERNS, OBJECTIVES, AND MEANING OF DECENTRALIZATION....................................................................39 3.4 LINKAGE INSTITUTIONS ........................................................................44 3.4.1 MEDIA ............................................................................................44 3.4.2 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION .................................................45 3.4.3 DONORS AND THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE (DO NO HARM)?....................................................................................46 3.5 THE CONSOLIDATION OF NEO-PATRIMONIAL RULE.........................48 4.0 IMPLICATIONS FOR STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRAM RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................49 4.1 SHORT-TERM (PRE-ELECTION) RECOMMENDATIONS .....................50 4.2 USAID PROGRAMMATIC ENGAGEMENT .............................................51 4.2.1 ANTICORRUPTION .......................................................................51 4.2.2 THE MCC AS OPPORTUNITY AND CONSTRAINT .....................53 4.2.3 POLITICAL PROCESS...................................................................54 4.2.4 CIVIL SOCIETY..............................................................................55 4.2.4 FRAGILITY .....................................................................................56 4.3 AREAS OF INSTITUTIONAL ENGAGEMENT.........................................59 4.3.1 PARLIAMENT.................................................................................60 4.3.2 LOCAL GOVERNMENT .................................................................60 4.3.3 JUDICIARY.....................................................................................61 4.4 DIPLOMACY AND COLLECTIVE DONOR PRESSURE.......................61 APPENDIX A .......................................................................................................63 ii DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT FOR UGANDA ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CAO Chief Accounting Officer CP Conservative Party CRC Constitutional Review Commission CSO Civil Society Organization CSOPNU Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda DCHA/DG USAID’s Democracy and Governance Office in the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance DDGG Donor Democracy and Governance Group DG Democracy and Governance DP Democratic Party DPP Directorate of Public Prosecution DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo FDC Forum for Democratic Change FSS Fragile States Strategy G6 Coalition of Six Ugandan Opposition Parties HHC Historical High Command IDP internally displaced person ICC International Criminal Court IGG Inspector General of Government IMF International Monetary Fund JEMA Justice Forum Party KAP Kalangala Action Plan LC Local Council LG Local Government LRA Lord’s Resistance Army MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation MP Member of Parliament DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT FOR UGANDA iii NGO nongovernmental organization NRA National Resistance Army NRM Ugandan National Resistance Movement NRMO National Resistance Movement Organization OAG Office of the Attorney General PGB Presidential Guard Brigade PPDA Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority RC Resistance Council SAF Strategic Assessment Framework UDN Uganda Debt Network UJCC Uganda Joint Christian Council UPC Uganda People’s Congress UPDF Uganda People’s Defense Force UPE Universal Primary Education USAID United States Agency for International Development iv DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT FOR UGANDA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Upon assuming power after two decades of chaos, violent civil conflict, and catastrophic economic and political governance, the Ugandan National Resistance Movement (NRM) faced multiple stabilization challenges, including the restoration of security, the reconstruction of a state bureaucracy, the restoration of a functioning economy, and the integration of deeply divided ethnic/regional constituencies into a single polity. Most observers agree that during the first decade of its rule, the NRM achieved significant results in addressing each of these challenges, though its record with regard to northern Uganda remains blemished. By 1996, security, rule of law, and respect for basic human rights had been largely reestablished in South, Central, and Western Uganda. Economic liberalization and the introduction of measures designed to ensure macro-economic stability had earned high marks from the IMF and the World Bank, resulting in massive commitments of resources by both multilateral and bilateral donors. Basic functions of government had been reestablished at national and sub-national levels, and a strategy of political inclusion through the creation of avenues of broad public participation in governance within the context of the NRM system had achieved broad public acceptance in much of the country. Economic liberalization was to a considerable degree accompanied by political liberalization, and the regime assured a variety of basic freedoms essential to democratic governance. What remained to be addressed can be termed the challenge of democratic institutional consolidation or, as Barkan et al have termed it, the challenge of establishing