Why I am applauding the seven Justices of the Supreme Court

 

 

What the Opposition failed to achieve in the House, they resorted first to the Constitutional Court that sat in Mbale. This court ruled that the passing of what has come to be known as the age limit constitutional amendment was legal. 

 

The court pointed out some issues which it nullified ie, the extension of the term of Parliament and local governments from five to seven years and the reinstatement of term limits. The petitioners were satisfied with the clauses that were nullified but were not happy with the upholding that the removal of the age limit was done in accordance with the Constitution. 

 

On the part of the ruling that they weren't satisfied with, they appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court justices listened to both sides and finally delivered their rulings last week. The NRM fought for, among other things, democracy in Uganda. 

 

When you consider the passing of the private member's Bill in Parliament that amended the Constitution, the going to court by the petitioners where they were not satisfied by the parliamentary decision, the appeal to the Supreme Court when they were not partially satisfied by the ruling of the Constitutional Court, this was an affirmation that there is rule of law in resolving conflicts and a democratic process in Uganda. 

 

For this exposure, I thank the petitioners and the judges of the Constitutional Court and the Justices of the Supreme Court. Also, President Museveni should be applauded for presiding over the state that has and continues to develop these institutions. If the Uganda of today where issues are resolved in courts of law was the Uganda of 1966, probably we wouldn't have had the bad political history we have gone through. 

 

On the Supreme Court ruling, I have read articles criticising the Justices who upheld the age limit removal that it was done legally. One of the critics is the retired Justice Goerge Kanyeihamba, who, in his article in one of the Sunday papers ridiculed two Justices of the Supreme Court who upheld the age limit. Without mentioning names, he wrote that two of the four had served the executive before. 

 

My reading of his statement was that their ruling was influenced by having served in government in the past. Before Justice Kanyeihamba was appointed by President Museveni to the Supreme Court, he had served under President Museveni as a minister in various positions. After the Constituent Assembly to which he was a member, he was appointed as a Senior Presidential Adviser on Constitutional Affairs, thereafter he was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court. 

 

Does Justice Kanyeihamba want us to believe that his decisions as a Justice of the Supreme Court were influenced by his background having served in the Museveni government in various capacities? For me, all the Justices must be hailed for the decisions they took.

 

I turn to the politics of the age limit. It is clear that the Opposition in Uganda thinks that if President Museveni is not on the ballot paper, they will be able to win. On the other hand, the NRM supporters see in Mr. Museveni a winning candidate. 

 

I recall that around the year 2000 or slightly earlier, there were some people within the Movement as it was then commonly known who wanted Mr. Museveni not to offer himself as a candidate in 2001. After several meetings, they agreed that it was not going to be easy for one of them to stand against Museveni or convince him not to stand. 

 

They consoled themselves that since there were term limits, let Mr. Museveni stand in 2001, then one of them would stand come 2006. However, without the approval of the others in the group, Dr. Kiiza Besigye offered himself as a candidate in 2001 thinking that since the others had failed on a candidate to stand against Mr. Museveni, they would support him. That didn't work out. His colleagues denounced him only to join him later when the population demanded the removal of term limits. So those within the Movement who thought that they would replace Mr. Museveni not through a popular vote, but by term limits, fell out with the Movement and joined the people who had originally not accepted the Movement. 

 

This political group had thought that their chance had come since the Constitution had age limits that would bar Mr. Museveni from offering himself in 2021. So the Opposition to the Magyezi Bill was hinged on that. Don't give this popular man a chance to stand, we might never get there. 

 

That is why their lawyers were saying that the age limit was a basic structure of the Constitution that could not be touched. Surprisingly, to the detriment of the petitioners, even the Justices who throughout the Bill agreed that Parliament had the power to amend the article on age limit. 

 

Why do a majority of Ugandans still want Mr. Museveni? Over Easter, I traveled to Hoima. Arriving in the town slightly after seven in the evening, I was impressed by the new roads in town with street lights and the glowing lights on the roadsides. They look beautiful. This kind of work has been carried out in 14 municipalities with funding from the World Bank. 

 

I recall that as I was growing up, Hoima town had only one tarmac road, Main Street. That small tarmac road and the one in Masindi town which extended up to Kijura and along Kampala road were the only tarmac roads in the whole of Bunyoro. All the roads out of Bunyoro were murram roads. When I hear some people talking about beautiful Uganda in the past, I don't understand them at least on roads. 

 

Under Mr. Museveni, the Busunju-Kiboga-Hoima Road was tarmacked, the Kafu-Masindi Road was tarmacked, the Hoima-Kaisotonya Road was tarmacked, the Kiguma-Masindi-Hoima-Kagadi road is being tarmacked, the Mubende-Kakumiro-Kibaale road is being tarmacked and work is about to begin on the Hoima-Butiaba-Wanseko road and the famous oil roads that will see among others Masindi connected to Buliisa with a tarmac road. 

 

If you go to other parts of Uganda like Acholi, various road projects have been tarmacked. It's such programs among others that make Mr. Museveni difficult to defeat in an election. So let the people of Uganda decide come 2021.