US elections: Trump and Kamala contrast their positions on corruption

Trump is in the polls against Ms. Kamala Harris, candidate for the Democratic Party (DP), and the current Vice President.

Mr Trump, who won the 2016 polls after defeating DP’s Hillary Clinton, was defeated in 2020 by DP’s Joe Biden, who ended his bid for re-election midway after intense pressure following his poor performance in a presidential debate against Mr Trump to concede. to his deputy Harris.

But as Americans choose between Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris, anti-corruption and governance experts in Uganda worry that Mr. Trump is likely to ignore the war on corruption.

They also fear that Trump will roll back the Global Magnitsky Act, as he did when he became president in 2016.

Ms. Sarah Birete, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, said past experiences have shown that the leaders of the Republican Party are not very concerned about global responsibility and human rights, unlike their counterparts in the Democratic Party.

“If Kamala Harris wins, there will be increasing pressure on the path towards democracy, human rights and the fight against corruption, especially under the Global Magnitsky Act. If Trump wins, the act will be pushed to the background, just as it did during his first presidency,” she said.

The official website of the US Department of State states that the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 2017, authorized the US government to impose sanctions on foreign government officials around the world who commit human rights violators and freeze their assets. and ban them from entering the US

The sanctions primarily target systemic corruption and human rights abuses, including the networks that engage in, facilitate or perpetuate persistent patterns of such illegal behavior.

Under Mr. Biden and his Vice President Harris, some Ugandan government officials have been sanctioned under this law.

The Speaker of Parliament, Ms. Anita Among, along with seven other officials, was denied entry to the United States of America on May 30 due to alleged “significant corruption and gross violations” of human rights.

The other officials included Mrs. Among’s husband, Moses Magogo; Finance Minister Amos Lugoloobi; former Minister of Karamoja Affairs Mary Goretti Kitutu; former Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs Agnes Nandutu; and former Deputy Chief of Defense Forces, Major General Peter Elwelu.

The US State Department also imposed sanctions on Ms Kitutu’s wife, Michael George Kitutu; and Lugoloobi’s wife Evelyne Nakimera. Mr Magogo, Mr Kitutu and Nakimera were sanctioned over their husbands’ alleged actions.

“Parliament Speaker Anita Among has been designated for involvement in significant corruption linked to her leadership in the Ugandan Parliament,” ministry spokesperson Matthew Miller claimed in the May 30 statement.

Four months after these sanctions, the US in October reimposed a travel ban on four Uganda Police Force (UPF) officers on allegations of gross human rights abuses, including torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.

The officers were Bob Kagarura, the former commander of the Wamala Regional Police, and Alex Mwine, the former police commander of Mityana District, Elly Womanya, who at the time of the alleged human rights violation was senior commissioner and deputy director of the Criminal Investigations Department of the UPF, responsible for the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), and Hamdani Twesigye, formerly Deputy Inspector of Police assigned to the SIU.

The activists said yesterday that such actions may not be seen during Trump’s administration as he focuses mainly on US internal affairs.

“I expect more sanctions against Uganda regarding the responsibility of whether Trump or Kamala Harris wins. If Harris wins, it will be a continuation of the Biden administration; with Trump he has turned more inward, focusing mainly on America and its withdrawal from the global stage. So if you want to see the continuation of sanctions, Kamala should take the day before,” said Mr Marlon Agaba, Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU).

He added: “These decisions are always made by the technical branch, officials in the US government, because even before Biden we saw sanctions over human rights and we have seen the same in his administration and we expect to see more accountability. I don’t see anything changing with these elections.”

During the Trump era, Uganda witnessed some sanctions when the US Treasury Department indicted former Inspector General of Police General Kale Kayihura on September 13, 2019 for alleged involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.

The activists generally say the Democratic Party administration is tougher on corruption in foreign countries than Republicans.

How the Electoral College Works

The Electoral College is the process by which Americans indirectly elect their president and vice president through their state’s electors. Candidates must secure 270 electoral votes, a majority of the 538 at stake, to win the White House. Before the general election, states select an electoral list.

After voters cast their ballots in November, the candidate who wins the popular vote will determine which electors – Republican, Democrat or a third party – will cast electoral votes in the Electoral College for the president. In most states, winner-take-all applies: whoever gets the most votes in the state wins all the electoral votes. In Maine and Nebraska, the rules are slightly different.

They have a system of proportional representation in which the winner of each congressional district receives one electoral vote, and the winner of the statewide vote receives the remaining two electoral votes from each state. The electors meet in their respective states in mid-December to cast their votes for the president. The meeting takes place on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December, which this year falls on December 17. Each state is assigned electors based on the size of its congressional delegation.

Several states with the smallest populations – Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming – have three electors each, as they have one representative in the House of Representatives and two senators, while California, the largest, has 54 electoral votes. Washington, D.C., will also be assigned three electors.

In the rare event of a tie in the Electoral College – which in modern times would mean each candidate winning 269 electoral votes – members of the newly elected House of Representatives would determine the outcome of the presidential election, while the Senate would choose the outcome . vice president.