UGANDA TO CHANGE FROM LIFE PRESIDENCY

With fears of Uganda retrogressing towards a life presidency, political activists and some members of parliament have kicked off a campaign they hope will lead to an amendment of the Constitution to restore presidential term limits.

 

Just last week, as Kenya was swearing in Uhuru Kenyatta, its fourth president since Independence, the Kampala-based Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG) handed a motion, with, attached to it, a private member’s Bill, to Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga.

The Bill seeks to overturn the September 2005 decision of the Seventh Parliament that amended Article 105 of the Constitution to hand Museveni a third term in State House.

“This is a one-page Bill just to amend and return Article 105 to the 1995 constitutional order; hence any person elected twice under that arrangement is ineligible to contest again. Obviously that’s going to be big debate, but we are ready,” said Western Youth MP Gerald Karuhanga, the mover of the motion.

 

Now on the Speaker’s “in” tray, the motion is expected to enter the order paper soon, after which it gets a first reading before being referred to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee. The second and third hearing, along with the vote on the Bill, will determine its fate.

Seconded by five other legislators across the political divide, the Bill could have far reaching governance, political and economic implications. For starters, restoring term limits would lead to the first peaceful transition since Independence, putting Uganda at par with its key EAC partners, especially Tanzania and Kenya, whose leaders have served two five-year terms since going multiparty.
 

According to Sarah Bireete, director of programmes at CCG, Uganda’s leadership of the region raises deeper questions about governance as the country is the only misfit in the EAC bloc, which is working towards a political federation.

“We are the only EAC country without presidential term limits. How are we supposed to federate if our system is out of sync with our neighbours? The report of the African Peer Review Mechanism also notes that Uganda has governance gaps because of lack of term limits,” she said.

 

Call for reforms

Activists also want Uganda’s Electoral Commission reconstituted as per the demands of political parties and key donors. One donor that has called for electoral reforms is the European Union, which weighed in after the 2011 elections, demanding that the government and the opposition bring forward the reforms ahead of the 2016 elections.

Yet again, this is a test of the Ninth Parliament’s mettle. Although dominated by ruling National Resistance Movement MPs, this parliament, in its initial months, flattered the population to believe that it is a legislature —led by single-minded Speaker Kadaga — that will give the executive a tough time.

Ms Kadaga recalled parliament in October 2011 for a two-day special session to debate corruption and secretive deals in the oil sector, which left a piqued, rattled and divided front bench.

But Museveni has since found his way around the House, often calling it to order by caucusing and holding NRM retreats to whip his party members into line.