Beti Kamya calls for referendum on term limits

By Noah Jagwe

Uganda Federal Alliance party leader Gen. Beti Kamya has called for a back-up plan, if the restoration of term limits is to succeed.

“While all efforts are applauded, a referendum is our biggest insurance,” Kamya said.

While addressing the media at the party headquarters at Kabusu, Kamya said her party would collect 40,000 signatures to support the move.

She said in as much as the Parliament, religious leaders and civil society were spearheading the move, the population needs to be involved through a referendum.

“We welcome the move by some Members of Parliament to reinstate term limits but we are also keenly aware that none of their well-intentioned efforts have yielded results so far,” Kamya noted.

She cited the signing of oil contracts in spite of Parliament’s disapproval, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and internal affairs minister Hillary Onek still in office in spite of the censure efforts and the President’s impeachment that seems like a non-starter with no single NRM legislator appending their signature on the list of the petitioners.

She is optimistic that it is going to be easy to get the signatures from across the country.

Kamya called on civil society organizations, opposition and religious leaders to continue agitating for term limits but include other avenues.

She said the problem was that the Constitution gave the President too much power.