Police summon anti age limit removal MPs

We are ready to die, anti age limit removal MPs vow.


The Police have summoned MPs who are opposed to the removal of the presidential age limit.

Addressing a news conference on Monday afternoon at Parliament, MPs Monica Amoding, Theodore Ssekikuubo and Mohammad Nsereko said according to the summons, they have been summoned to appear before Police for questioning tomorrow (Tuesday).

"As long as we live, the constitution will not be changed. We are not backing down in-spite the summons," they vowed.

"The call for us to be patriotic demands us to stand with the country before we stand as individuals. We shall not be scared and deterred. We shall continue with the journey to rebuild our motherland," Nsereko said.

NRM consultative meeting convened on Tuesday last week agreed on a private member's constitutional amendment Bill to lift Article 102(b) that caps the age limit between 35 and 75 was a sham.

The group of four that includes Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County) Barnabas Tinkasimire (Buyaga West) Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central) and Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East) told a news conference. Nsereko and Niwagaba have since become independents.

The rebel MPs were joined by John Baptists Nambeshe (Manjiya County) who walked out of the Tuesday meeting And Felix Okot Ogong (Dokolo County).

According to them, the move was guised as a private members Bill but it is part of a grand scheme to allow President Yoweri Museveni seek re-election in 2021 when he will be 77 years.

Niwagaba described the Tuesday events as President Museveni's machinations that should be resisted by Ugandans the way the proposed amendment of article 26 on land was resisted.

On his part Tinkasimire said, "We are NRM but we want to tell you that this thing, we don't know about and we are distancing ourselves from it. Some people in NRM fear him because he uses ill gotten money to intimidate but not us, we shall crush his plans because his time is up."
About 104 NRM MPs according to organizers took parliament by storm when they agreed that Igara West MP Raphael Magezi presents a private members bill on the matter on their behalf.
Ssekikubo warned that what their counterparts are trying to do is irregular and they will deploy all tactics to deter it from sailing through.
"This issue was presented by Ssekitoleko and it was rejected therefore you can't present it again but also constitutional amendments require consulting with the people. Where did these MPs consult from?"
To sum it up, Nsereko called for actions points which include, shunning all MPs that were involved, rallying electorates to demand for accountability on the issue from respective MPs, filibustering debating style from opposition MPs while on the floor of parliament.