Through Mbabazi, Ugandans rejected term limits; cleared way for lifting age limit

Sep 18, 2017

Mbabazi had also promised to deliver Uganda’s first ever “peaceful transfer of power” and to model that transfer across generations-the old guard to young turks.

POLITICS | TERM LIMITS

By Robert Atuhairwe


In last year's presidential election, Go Forward and independent candidate, Amama Mbabazi, took home 136, 519votes, accounting for 1.39%. Some of us have never conceded that that was his worth after an intense, action-packed campaign; one of the most organised and clean-cut.

Mbabazi had also promised to deliver Uganda's first ever "peaceful transfer of power" and to model that transfer across generations-the old guard to young turks.
 
In December (2015), he had launched an ambitious forecast of his priorities in his first one hundred days in office. Number one on the list was none other restoration of term limits. The Serena conference centre, in Kampala, where he launched his manifesto exploded with delight as "Go Forwarders" welcomed the "winning" idea.

The audience constituted of The Democratic Alliance (TDA) summit members and stalwarts from Democratic Party (DP), Uganda People's Congress (UPC) and other hopefuls who had allied with him as their "official" candidate. Because DP and opposition activists in general had been agitating for term limit restoration all along, there is no doubt that the subject was impressed upon him during negotiations for their partnership protocols.

Interestingly, while Mbabazi led with "restoration of term limits" as top on his agenda, New Vision Group polls showed the top five concerns for voters in outlying districts where the candidates held their campaigns ranged from health-related issues, water and sanitation, national security, road network and education.

In particular areas, they had unique issues needing attention like restocking of cows (in Teso sub-region), augmentation of salaries among teacher clusters, addressing land conflicts in areas where land is stretched and combating against drought in places of prolonged rainfall failure.

Beside the term limit, Mbabazi had fronted other charming ideas like the Advanced Sub-County Model of Development, marketing co-operatives for farmers and a 25% reward for whistleblowers in a bid to stamp out corruption.

In the end, after two months of manifesto bombing the masses, the exercise ended as stated earlier with President Yoweri Museveni emerging winner; although Mbabazi appealed to the courts of law which still cleared Museveni's win, thereby sealing the fate of term limit restoration within a hundred days" from May 12, 2016. It was not going to happen, after all!
The other candidate who could have delivered term limits was Dr Kizza Besigye of FDC. His manifesto made the same commitment but he, too, didn't make it enough to carry the day, according to official figures.

The 2016 election is the closest we have come to a referendum on the matter of term limits and if Mbabazi is the face of that campaign, then Ugandans flatly rejected the offer. It was not a priority and may never be if we go by other promoters who have been humbled at the polls at other levels.

With that upset, the stage was set for not only reaffirming the absence of term limits in the Law but consideration of removing other limits in the Constitution, for example, the age limit for one to contest for the Presidency (at 75years), which is now the matter driving political discourse countrywide. One would not be mistaken to imagine that "Kanungu boy" was a harbinger of this development-to test the ground. How it will conclude is a good guess but it had better end tranquilly.

Meanwhile, the other day on a Frontline talk show episode on NBS TV, Dr Besigye put Minister Kahinda Otafiire on the spot to state his position on the matter of age limit-whether he supported lifting or retaining. Otafiire declined, reasoning that as minister in charge of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, he could not take sides but simply to preside over a situation when Ugandans decide which way they want to go. It is a worrying trend if anybody is compelled to take any side in this matter or any other. If Otafiire can be subjected to such treatment, then nobody is safe.


The write is a member of the Commonwealth Writers Group
Email: atuhairwe_robert@yahoo.com
0772468064

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