Re: [UNAANET] Electronic Voting
Tendo Kaluma
Fellow Ugandans,
UNAA officials and friends who want to see this organization move forward from these long dugout trenches -need to boldly move to a new era that is agile enough to face competition through the embrace of technology and aggressive membership recruitment. We have got to build a new infrastructure that allows members to take gains and losses equally-that is the caveat which ought to come with membership. The days of someone like Moses footing $20,000-dollar bill convention loss alone should be a thing of the past.
With that caveat in place - we could begin to distribute weight to the voting regions that have huge numbers! It is an embarrassment to this long-established organization and indeed a horrible leadership oversight to have no member from Boston on the Electoral commission and perhaps other vital committees of the organization!
To avoid such pitfalls -UNAA has to firstly get out of this very narrow outlook that avoids a huge swath of its constituency for whatever reason! It also has to embrace and begin to recognize folks in the minority with huge overwhelming problems at home -the K'jongs the Wakonzo and their Mumbeere!
I suppose the fear that all these folks who are not conventioneers might overwhelm those who religiously come to the events -has some merit! However, it can be mitigated by changes in the way we elect officials - we could adopt a caucusing model -where regions well represented at the convention are able to elect an individual based on their delegate count. We could have super delegates - where folks who have attended more than ten conventions could have the ability to cast their vote as super delegates. Creativity is the mother of invention -and as a people from an emerging nation with lots of interest groups, we have got to come up with new models that are inclusive and what other place can showcase such diplomacy and political dexterity -other than -UNAA.
The argument -that if UNAA's enemies are allowed to participate in the voting process might derail the course of the organization -has some validity as well! Should we be gripped by that fear to the point of deterring progress on the necessary organizational fronts -No! I say we move forward, not with blind determination -but with a well thought out plan of inclusiveness -and one which is not driven by fear alone.
We have got the numbers now, why do we want to go with a very narrow vision? Let's embrace the numbers and genuinely show that we care about issues of others - whether in the minority or majority within the Diaspora. If we do it right, you might begin to see these other splintered groups coming to terms with this long serving institution. However, we all have to begin adjusting our lenses -look! - we have done this long enough to know what works and what does not work- we have got to be of the same vision and mindset as to the optimal plan voted upon by all our members to be of great impact in tackling a number of issues on our plates right now and one of these fellows has got the mettle and grit to spearhead this organization in this new direction.
PS
UNAA - has missed out on the opportunity to recruit and retain its Good-will Ambassadors throughout the Diaspora - this is a great place to start canvassing for resources.
My two cents!
I yield my time to other members who would like to chime in!
Cheers,
Tendo Kaluma
Ugandan in Boston.
In 2007, expressed very strong views against allowing visitors from Uganda to vote in UNAA elections. In 2011, I served briefly as a Secretary to the EC and was very supportive of implementing the new provision for separating membership fees from convention fees. With that background, I can say that I support the move to online voting.However, as I mentioned last week, I doubt very much that UNAA is ready for online voting. The recent controversy surrounding the competing communications from the EC indicate that the UNAA is not ready for online voting.When the EC says that they are not ready to conduct online voting, I think it is not wise of us to force them to do so. That will lead to more conflicts and fights...at a time when we have not recovered from the 2013 fights.I strongly believe that UNAA's long term stability is more important than short-term tactical victories of any candidates.I also have a problem with registering members for the sole purpose of voting in elections. Such members have a tendency of messing up UNAA and leaving it to regular members to deal with the mess. That is why i could be open to the idea that online voting would be limited to renewing members. That restriction also addresses my other concern...verifying the identity of the voter. I heard the argument that current drives to register voters is similar to national political parties' drives to register voters. I think that there is a big difference. The parties register citizens who already qualify to register and vote. In my view, the current UNAA drives are like someone going to Mexico and asking folks to come to the US and apply for citizenship and vote...worse, I have heard of people offering to pay membership fees for potential voters. That is akin to going to illegal immigrants and offering to get them citizenship to vote for you. Of course those scenarios provide short term tactical advantages but they risk long term problems for UNAA.I want to think that all candidates want UNAA to emerge stronger and united from the current mess. We should all keep our eyes focused on that goal. Let us all avoid things that will bring more discord to UNAA.thanks__._,_.___
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