The historical snags and triumphs of the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) in monitoring national elections in Uganda between 1963 and 2016

Abstract

The Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) was established in 1963, and its founding member Christian churches included the Protestants under Archbishop Leslie Brown, the Catholics under Archbishop Joseph Kiwanuka, and the Orthodox under Archbishop Theodros Nankyama. According to the Kampala Archdiocese Archives, UJCC was established with a number of objectives, which include, among others, that of enhancing democratic institutions in Uganda. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNUDHR), established on December 10, 1948, also encouraged UJCC. UNUDHR advances the people’s right to democratic elections and voting. It goes on to assert that election monitoring groups, ranging from local to party monitors, assist respective governments to hold free and fair elections. In this regard, UJCC widened its focus on promoting democracy and good governance. Since the latter can hardly be realized without holding national elections, UJCC embarked on the noble work of monitoring national elections in Uganda between 1994 and 2016. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), election observation is a valuable gizmo for supporting the quality and integrity of elections. It further states that election observers/monitors help build public confidence in the honesty of the electoral process. As a religiously founded organization, politically, UJCC has been at the forefront of monitoring the national elections in Uganda, viz., from the pulpit to politics. This position is because UJCC wanted to promote people’s right to democratic elections and voting. Similarly, election monitoring promotes democratic elections as an essential element for sustainable democratic governments in a country. From its inception in 1963 up to 2016, UJCC experienced various challenges and achievements during the course of enhancing democracy in Uganda. Therefore, this article presents the snags and triumphs that UJCC experienced prior to and during the process of monitoring national elections in Uganda. The study was guided by the behavioral theory and the rational choice theory. This is because these theories correspond with the issue of election monitoring. Similarly, both theories encompass the rationality aspect in decision-making used by the individuals or agencies that are monitoring elections. Conclusively, the investigation of this article has historically echoed the concern of national elections monitoring in Uganda, with special reference to the experience of UJCC as an ecumenical body. The article has mirrored how the management of the electoral process in Uganda has been enriched to some extent, owing to the role of UJCC in the monitoring of national elections. UJCC and other monitoring agencies are recommended to develop a methodology and tools for monitoring the hurried government demarcation of the new districts and constituencies, especially as the national elections are looming. UJCC ought to outwardly and courageously caution the government/EC against the issue of creating ghost polling stations. Finally, UJCC Church members are encouraged to desist from the issue of government patronage and vote buying if they are to improve their mandate of election monitoring.