Political Party Financing in Uganda

Introduction

Public political party financing is increasingly being acknowledged in several states worldwide as an essential framework for nurturing political parties as fundamental blocks of multiparty democracy. In Germany, the home of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, public financing of political parties and the regulation of party funding be it by public or private sources has been in existence for several decades. It has over the years been recognised as an essential ingredient in the sustainable development of Germany’s democratic system. In addition, the German system foresees the establishment and support of party-affiliated political foundations – including the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung – which are key actors for contributing to democratisation processes not only in Germany but in several countries around the world.

Having been reintroduced after the referendum held in 2005, the multiparty system in Uganda is a considerably young one. The second general elections since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy held in 2011 confirmed that political parties face several challenges. A number of these challenges are logistical and mainly associated with the limited resources available to political parties. This makes it difficult for them to conduct effective campaigns and to mobilise. In addition, the political parties are, beyond elections, largely unable to fulfil expected core functions with the lack of funds again being a major cause of this deficit.

With the above state of affairs, the need for consensus and later for establishing a framework towards sustainable and well regulated political party financing becomes apparent in the case of Uganda. Nevertheless, political party financing has been a generally neglected topic in the political debate. Even when a law, the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Act, 2010, was passed there was limited progress in the area of party financing. According to several observers, the law – which is to be considered a positive step – besides providing for public financing did not address other essential aspects of the political party financing framework, for example private contributions and financial spending. Several stakeholders including a cross-section of political party leaders who participated in a KAS supported interparty dialogue held in 2008 on the subject expressed conflicting views on the bill then. It can therefore be concluded that the debate is still open and valid and that Uganda still has to reach a consensus in establishing a fair and equitable party financing framework in which all stakeholders hold confidence.

It is on the above premise that KAS supports this publication on Political Party Financing in Uganda as an assessment of the public funding system of political parties, organisations and candidates. It is written on the background of the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Act, 2010 which present the frame on public funding of political parties in Uganda. The paper aims at identifying key ingredients in the funding systems of multiparty democracies and drawing lessons for the emerging system of Uganda.

The publication considers the introduction of public party financing as an important matter at this stage of Uganda ́s democratisation process. Public funding of political parties can support a sustainable functioning multiparty democracy and a fair competition among the existing parties. In addition, it strengthens the independence of parties and the political playing field. Nevertheless, a proper design and implementation of the funding is crucial to prevent failure and abuse.

The author Paul K. Ssemogere has been a prominent actor in Ugandan politics. He is nationally and internationally known, amongst others, as party president of the Democratic Party, presidential candidate in 1980 and 1996, leader of several committees under the UN and founding father of the Foundation for African Development (FAD). In this paper, Dr. Ssemogerere extensively analyses the party funding systems of established and emerging democracies not just from the West but also from Africa. He develops a series of suggestions on how the Ugandan system can be effectively developed. It is my sincere hope that this publication will assist in contributing to the realisation of a political party financing system acceptable to all Ugandan stakeholders.

You can download the whole report as pdf.