The republic of uganda in the supreme court of uganda at kampala

ELECTION OBSERVERS’ REPORTS

In paragraph 19 of the affidavit accompanying the 2nd Respondent’s answer to the petition, Chairman Kasujja deponed that foreign observers confirmed that the election was held in conditions of freedom and fairness. I have seen five reports of those observers and which were annexed to Chairman Kasujja’s affidavit.

The first report is a statement by OAU observer’s team. This team does not indicate how long they stayed in Uganda before the election took place. They do not mention places and districts they visited and any credible persons they interacted with to get objective assessment of the freedom and fairness of the election. I therefore attach no importance to their statement.
The second group of foreign observers is from the Nigerian National Electoral Commission. This team arrived here on 8/3/2001 and was received by our Electoral Commission officials for briefing. They appear to have thereafter attended some few rallies in Kampala and Jinja. They don’t seem to have visited critical areas in the rest of Uganda, such as Rukungiri, Kanungu, Kamwenge, Mayuge, Mbale, etc. An assessment by foreigners based on a visit to the city of Kampala and the Municipality of Jinja, on the facts of this petition, does not in my assessment give the report by the Nigerian delegation the kind of importance that satisfies me that the team’s report is of any value in this petition.

The third report is by the Libyan Ambassador. H. E. the Ambassador is based in Kampala. Apparently he was able to visit only the City of Kampala areas and Jinja, just like the Nigerians. His report is not signed. He heard about reports of acts of violence and intimidation and loss of lives. He doesn’t appear to have investigated these matters. If I were to attach any value to this report, I would say the ambassador supports the allegations of the petitioner regarding acts of violence, intimidation and killing. Otherwise I attach no importance to the report.

The fourth report, which is also not signed, is by the delegation from Tanzania. The delegation did not have time. They observed election process in seven Polling Stations in Kampala central. They also observed counting process in two of those seven Polling Stations. That is all. With respect, I don’t know which value can be derived from or attached to their report. None, I think.

The fifth report, which is also unsigned, is by a Gambian delegation, although the team toured the Municipality of Jinja, the delegation remained in Kampala for electoral purposes. Possibly they observed election (voting) process at one Polling Station, Araya Primary School in Kampala. The delegation should have simply said, “we have no valuable report to make.” Yet they made a report to which I attach no importance at all.

With respect to Chairman Kasujja, I do not share his confidence that these five reports can in all fairness be regarded as sufficient to support his views that the election was conducted under conditions of freedom and fairness.

I do not attach any significance whatsoever to these five reports of foreign observers, It is not quite clear to me why the foreign observers were unable to reach areas, which mattered in this election. I think that for any foreign and objective observer to get a fair and reasonable assessment of the election, he should have been here in Uganda from about the middle of the campaign period. While here they should travel to various part of the court. In that way they could have observed what was on the ground and might have given credible and objective reports.