Baryamureeba wants presidential age limit lowered to 70

By Joyce Namutebi
                                        
Former vice chancellor Makerere University, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba has proposed that both the president and vice president should not serve beyond the age of 70.
               
Baryamureeba, who is an aspiring presidential candidate for 2016, was presenting his views to the legal and parliamentary affairs committee on government's Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2015 on Tuesday.
               
"We propose that due to the seriousness and weight of the constitutional duties of the Office of the President as provided for in articles 98(1) and 99(1) of the constitution, Article 102 of the Constitution should be amended so that both the president and the vice president do not serve beyond the age of 70," he said.
               
"This would imply that for one to qualify for election/appointment as president/vice president he or she should not be more than 65 years of age," 46- year- old Baryamureeba explained.
               
According to Article 102(b) of the 1995 constitution, a person is not qualified for election as President or vice president unless that person is not less than thirty-five years and not more than seventy-five years of age.
               
The age limit for the president and vice president is not an area contained in the Bill, but like other groups that have presented views to committee, Baryamureeba made proposals outside the Bill.

Several groups before the committee have called for comprehensive reforms saying the constitution should not be amended piecemeal.
               
He presented to the MPs copies of his book titled "The ideal Uganda; My perspectives in 2014", which he said, contains a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Uganda. 

The Bill's object is to amend the Constitution to change the name of the Electoral Commission (EC), to prescribe a procedure for removal of members of the commission, to raise the retirement age for justices and judges and to provide for corporate status for the Inspectorate of Government, among other proposals.
               
Baryamureeba said that presidential term limits should, as a matter of urgency, be reinstated into the constitution. He suggested a maximum of two terms of five years each.
               
He, however, observed that term limits alone cannot guarantee a flourishing multiparty democracy.
"Presidential succession between individuals, even of the same party, can parallel a gradual change in political reform," he said.
               
On removal of the president from office, he proposed that Parliament amends the constitution to provide for powers where the VP and cabinet ministers can vote that the president is unable to discharge his duties by two thirds majority.
               
"After the vote of no confidence, the process for the removal of the president should follow the same process as laid out under Article 107(3) after Cabinet has communicated its position containing grounds for removal, to the Speaker of Parliament."
               
This, he said, would check the powers of the President in Cabinet and ensure that Cabinet is more powerful than the person of the president.
               
To avoid fusion of Parliament with the Executive, Baryamureebasuggested that all cabinet ministers should be ex-officio MPs and that parliamentary caucus MPs of the ruling party should be barred from discussing and taking binding positions on parliamentary business with the Executive.
               
He said parliamentary caucuses should interface with their parties through party organs and not through the Executive.
               
He said the Vice president needs to be assigned specific duties in the constitution through an amendment that would see the Office of the Prime Minister abolished by repealing Article 108A of the constitution so that the VP is responsible for coordination and implementation of government policies and programmes.
               
He opposed a proposal to increase the retirement age for judges. 

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