The week begun with the presidential nominations, the culmination of a process that begun with nominations for local governments and special interest groups.
The substance of the event was overshadowed by the manhandling of opposition leaders Robert Kyagulanyi, the National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate and Forum for Democratic (FDC)’s Patrick Oboi Amuriat.
Another sub plot transpired with two aspirants – Nancy Kalembe and John Katumba, failing to pay the sh20m nomination fee on their allotted day.
"They say all publicity is good publicity, hard to argue against that given the media space given to Kyagulanyi, Amuriat, Kalembe and Katumba compared to that availed more established politicians as Mugisha Muntu, Henry Tumukunde and Norbert Mao...
The nomination fees, which were raised recently, for both presidential and parliamentary aspirants has been a source of much debate.
Critics of the higher fees have argued that it was locking out the poor, who may nevertheless have good leadership potential.
More than higher education qualifications, we need to further raise the bar on presidential nomination fees to say, sh100m or even a billions shillings if we are to help our democracy along.
Nomination fees are a serious declaration of intent. They indicate that the intending candidate is not some clown off the street. That he has the capacity to mobilise funds. And yes it should serve as major criterea to weed the chaffe from the wheat.
Ideally the fees should not be put up by the intending candidate, but by his supporters and interest groups that believe he or she best represents their interests.
So the issue of poverty of the candidate should not arise. If the intending candidate has a serious cause to put forward, even if not a serious chance of assuming the highest office in the land, he will be able to mobilise backers who will foot the bill.
It is the reason that Donald Trump will have fundraisers for his campaigns despite his claims to being a billionaire.
So if you raise the nomination fees, while you will have a smaller pool of intending candidates, you will have more credible backers for our candidates. Backers who are not looking to throw their money away but hoping to make an impression in the campaigns. That their agenda will get enough airplay to be taken seriously by whoever is the winner, if it is not their own candidate.
And what kind of backers will these be? Major players in the economy – farmers, industrialists, traders and real estate moguls. They will be sponsoring candidates to front their issues, which issues will benefit the larger community as well.
"We keep complaining that we want an issue based campaign but since almost any Tom, Dick and Harry can be a candidate, in a country where the biggest issue is development, its only personalities that will distinguish candidates....
One of the reasons our democracy is limping along, is because we don’t have parties, strong institutions with distinctive agendas, whose issues distinguish them from each other and are identifiable by the voters for the issues they espouse.
Raising nomination fees will force parties to be more coherent in their agendas, which when they present to financial backers will give them cause to open the purse strings.
"With one fell swoop we will have eliminated adventurers looking to catch the eye of the president, careerists looking to pad their CVs or good for nothing chartalans....
While politics is too important to be left to politicians, their should be a process of graduation up the ranks. You have to wonder about someone who has not even been on the village LC vaulting to contest for the presidency.
We have come to this situation thanks to the NRM decades long project to dominate the political space.
When they rolled into Kampala in 1986, while a formidable fighting force they were thin on the ground politically. By suspending party activity and promoting politics by individual merit, they tore up the vetting mechanisms that come with a multi party system.
"Allowing independent candidates, while a human right, serves to short circuit the building of political institutions by frustrating party discipline....
Raising a billion shillings for your party flag bearer for the presidency or sh100m for parliamentary aspirants will force parties to focus on building their structures and whip their members into line.
There will be some grumbling – we are now too wed to individual merit system, but in the long term it will be good for democracy – and spare us the circus on nomination day, which may even be shortened to a few hours event, that wont disrupt hard working members of society ability to go about their business too long.
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