The number of Ugandans who want the Constitution to limit the president to serving a maximum of two terms in office has doubled in the last four years, results of the Afrobarometer opinion poll indicate.

Parliament controversially voted to lift term limits in September 2005 and a similar poll conducted at the time showed that only 41 per cent of the respondents supported a two-term limit.

Barely four years later, however, the latest Afrobarometer survey shows that the number of Ugandans who want term limits restored has risen to 76 per cent.

The poll was carried out by Wilsken Agencies Limited and the Centre for Democratic Governance (CDG) between July 27 and September 3, 2008, but only released last week.

The poll also shows that the number of respondents who reject one-party rule in Uganda has risen from 57 per cent to 77 percent, while those who say the country needs many political parties has increased from 54 per cent to 71 per cent.

These results, which are part of the mini-survey on the attitudes and perceptions of Ugandans towards democracy, show a growing preference for a multiparty system of governance where voters are free to choose their leaders from several political alternatives. 

The growing desire for alternative political leadership also represents increasing dissatisfaction with government’s performance in addressing the problems that Ugandans view as most pressing.

A comparison of the surveys commissioned by Afrobarometer in 2005 and 2008 show a gradual change in the problems that Ugandans think their government should address, and the number of respondents who think so. 

Since 2005, for instance, the number of people who think poverty is the most pressing problem has risen by 4 per cent to 43 per cent. The increasing poverty is already biting a large part of the population, with 57 per cent saying they had gone without food at one point and 55 per cent saying they had gone without water – up from 49 per cent in 2005.

And while education was ranked as the second most pressing problem by 30 per cent of respondents in 2005, its place has been taken by unemployment which was ranked fourth five years ago. It shows that as more people access free primary and secondary education, there is growing pressure on the government to create more jobs and economic opportunities.

A recent study showed that only 18,000 jobs are created in Uganda every year, far fewer than the 400,000 new job seekers.

A comparison of people’s perceptions on how well or badly government is doing in handling people’s pressing problems shows that since 2005, an increasing number of Ugandans think the government is handling their pressing problems poorly.

On keeping prices stable, the number of people who think the government is not doing enough rose from 55 per cent in 2005 to 90 per cent in 2008.

Respondents who think the government is not doing enough to narrow income gaps rose from 69 per cent to 82 per cent, while 79 per cent think the government is not creating enough jobs today – up from 65 per cent in 2005. The number of those who don’t think enough is being done to fight corruption increased from 54 per cent in 2005 to 70 per cent.

How The Survey Was Done:

1. Face-to-face interviews with Ugandan citizens of voting age from July 27-October 3, 2008.
2. Interviews were conducted in 55 of 79 districts, excluding Karamoja region.
3. A total of 4,096 interviews were conducted; 2,432 as official sample, 1,664 as additional.
4. Overall margin of sampling error is +/-3 per cent.
5. The male to female ratio of respondents was 50:50, while urban to rural was 14:86.
6. Education level of respondents was; No Schooling (12 per cent), Primary Only (38 per cent), Secondary Only (38 per cent), Post-Secondary (13 per cent).
7. Faith of respondents was as follows: Christian (88 per cent), Muslim (11 per cent), Other (1 per cent).
8. Regional samples were as follows: Central (27 per cent), East (25 per cent), North (22 per cent), and West (26 per cent).