----- Original Message ----- 
From: Elum aniap Godfrey Ayoo 
To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] 
Cc: Edward Mulindwa 
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 10:49 PM
Subject: Matembe warns CRC on Museveni's 3rd term 



Matembe warns CRC on Museveni's 3rd term 
By Badru D. Mulumba 
September 28, 2003

      KAMPALA - Ms Miria Matembe yesterday said the Constitutional Review Commission would lose credibility if it accords priority to the cabinet proposal, allowing President Museveni to stand for another term.

      The former minister of Ethics and Integrity said that doing so would mean that the commission was a waste of taxpayers' money. She argued that cabinet could present its views to Parliament even if there was no commission.

      The commission recently came under public spotlight following allegations that one of its members, a pro-Movement official, had leaked the CRC draft report to cabinet. 

      Cabinet, reportedly angered by the proposals, decided to submit its own proposals to the same CRC, although the commission will submit its final report to cabinet.

      "I am giving them (commissioners) the benefit of doubt," she said. "If they lose their integrity, that is their fault," Matembe said. Prof. Fredrick Ssempebwa heads the CRC.

      Matembe described Ssempebwa as a man of integrity. She said she worked with him on the Odoki commission that drafted the 1995 constitution. 

      "I hope the women on this commission also have integrity. I am giving them the benefit of doubt, unless otherwise,"

      Matembe was in May dropped from cabinet together with Mr Bidandi Ssali (Local Government), Ms Sarah Kiyingi (Internal Affairs) and Mr Eriya Kategaya (Internal Affairs).

      Their dismissal was largely interpreted as being related to their opposition to amendment of the constitution to give President Museveni another term after 2006.

      Matembe said that she would fight the proposal in other fora if the CRC allows it. 

      "I will be in Parliament. I will have an opportunity to explain to the country the danger of such a proposal. In the meantime, I am waiting," she said.

      Her former colleague, Bidandi, said that a handful of selfish individuals were behind the proposals seeking to give more powers to the president.

      "And I really think it is not in the interest of the country. It may be in the interest of some few individuals, but certainly not in the interest of the country," Bidandi said.

      He said that the selfish people in cabinet - who he did not name - were afraid of the power of the people. He said they want to destroy people's power and pave way for a toothless Parliament.

      The Constituent Assembly, Bidandi said, extensively debated the issue of having three independent branches of government, each checking the powers of the other.

      "It was almost unanimous that three different centres of power, the legislature, judiciary and executive exist side by side," he said.

      Bidandi said that MPs could influence the final report, if they do not allow selfishness to overcome them. 

      "I think they have the capacity to do that," he said. 
     


© 2003 The Monitor Publications


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"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities (.) No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". (Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace prize laureate, assassinated for his struggle)

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