THE AGE LIMIT DEBATE
CONTINUES AMONG UGANDANS, IS IT WORTH OUR TIME?
Uganda’s parliament can never exist without controversies and
myths. In a recent parliamentary
session, the speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga brought up an issue that
touched all the members of parliament with different kinds of shocks.
She said
she has been reading reports on the press that some of the members of
parliament were lobbying for the lifting of the presidential age limit which is
currently at the age of 75. Ugandans continue to debate about the issue
especially the ruling NRM party members.
According to the speaker of parliament no bill about the age limit has
been tabled on the floor of parliament and she is surprised that the issue is
already starting to raise dust and therefore she called upon the Attorney
General who is the representative of government to come and explain to the
floor of parliament what was going on and his response was shocking to all the
members.
He said that such a thing has never happened and he is just hearing
about it at that time.
With the pro NRM people like Abiriga Ibrahim and Ruth
Nankabirwa fronting the removal of the age limit, this debate to me is clearing
the ground for the removal of the age limit which will ultimately permit
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to rule until he is taken away by the Almighty
God.
The Kisanja that allowed the President to rule for another term was
fronted by Hon. Anite the former Youth Member of Parliament and it is likely
that the likes of Abiriga and others will continue to push this debate until it
becomes a thing that may be Ugandans will come to terms with.
Some members of
parliament and Democratic party President Nobert Mao are pushing for the
sensitisation of the public about the debate and that when the public is aware
of the consequences of this in coming bill that they will resist it.
In my own
opinion, organising a referendum to
choose our fate will not even change anything about this situation simply
because this is a government that has been rigging elections and if you try to organise
elections, the same people will change the election results and there will
actually be no change, it will be a waste of the tax payer’s money and the
ruling government will have a reason as
to why they have removed the age limit and that is simply by saying that the
people of Uganda wanted it removed.
Another alternative would be debating the bill in parliament and
allowing the Members of parliament to vote on the bill, truth be told the bill
would pass through because the major number of parliamentarians belong to the
ruling party or the ruling government and therefore they would vote to remove
the age limit.
With the changing political tides that are happening in Uganda
especially the recent elections in Kyadondo East where Kyagulanyi Sentamu won
with a landslide victory, some members of parliament are thinking twice before
doing the unthinkable, removing the age limit. Some of the Members of
parliament have complained of being sent threatening messages that are putting
their lives on the line.
So this is a
sensitive situation that will take long to be resolved and we are ready to
watch as it unfolds.
Comments
Post a Comment