Constitutional battle in Uganda
President Yoweri Museveni wants to hold the office for life, sparking protests.
KAMPALA, Uganda — After more than 31 years in power, 73-year-old Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is carefully planning for the 2021 elections, determined to run for office again.
It needs a deft manipulation: a change in the Constitution to remove the 75-year age limit for presidential candidates, but he’s done that before. In 2005, Museveni’s party used its majority in parliament to remove the constitutional twoterm presidential limit.
Riotous scenes in Uganda’s parliament Thursday and protests in defiance of a police ban on demonstrations suggested that this time, the path might not be so smooth. Parliament deferred debate on the bill, which it plans to take up at a later date.
Police fired tear gas and arrested dozens of protesters opposed to the removal of the age limit, which would allow Museveni to rule for life. Authorities in Uganda have frequently jailed opposition politicians who have contested presidential elections against Museveni.
As lawmakers packed the parliament and hurled abuse over a planned contentious bill to remove the age limit, a police helicopter circled overhead and special security police armed with automatic weapons surrounded the parliament.
Opposition leader, Latigo Ogenga, said his party was determined to prevent Museveni from remaining in power after his term expires.
“It came to complete ruckus in the house,” Ogenga said in a phone interview. “The opposition were saying that we would not accept any legislation, which is basically raping the constitution.”
“If we remove the age limit, people will know the only way for them would be violence and Uganda would go back to instability,” he said.
The move has even disturbed some members of his party, the National Resistance Movement, including Felix Okot Ogong, who is opposed.
“The idea is not generated by the people. It’s generated by the powers that be. The idea is superimposed on the people,” he said in a phone interview. “Some people want a peaceful transfer of power.”
Ogong said it was odd the move was being brought to parliament as a private member’s bill instead of a government bill.
“That means they know that they’re doing something not good. They are using parliament to soil its hands for them,” he said.
The struggle comes at a time when democracy is being reeled back in many parts of the world, notably in Africa. Several African countries have abandoned twoterm presidential limits, including neighboring Rwanda, where President Paul Kagame recently won a third term with 99% of the vote — a total reminiscent of Soviet leaders.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 93, who triggered mirth by appearing to doze off during President Trump’s address Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly, is also seeking reelection next year.
In Cameroon, supporters of Africa’s longest-serving president, Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982, have been urging him to run for office again next year.
And in Togo, thousands of people have protested over a government measure that opponents say would allow President Faure Gnassingbe, who has been in power since his father died in 2015, to rule until 2030. The Gnassingbe family has ruled for 50 years.
The move also comes amid Uganda’s sluggish growth, high youth unemployment and fear that the change could deter investment. Ugandan analyst Godber Tumushabe of the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies said the government faced strong opposition in its bid to abandon the presidential age limit. “The pressure on both sides is real and intense. I think it is very unpredictable because in the population there’s overwhelming resistance against the idea, and more importantly young people are really strongly opposed to the idea.”
He warned that if Museveni did cling on as president for life, it could lead to increased political repression, human rights abuses and a shrinking democracy.
“We are experiencing mass youth unemployment, which is like a time bomb. A Museveni life presidency would escalate the political and economy problems that we face as a country,” Tumushabe said.
One of Museveni’s staunchest supporters, Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatization Evelyn Anite, said the rule barring a person from running for office after 75 was discriminatory. She told The Times in a phone interview that she would support the president if he ran in 2021.
“If people want to choose a blind person to lead them, they should be able to do it. If they want to choose an old person to lead them, they should be able to do that,” she said. “President Museveni is a good leader. From the time he has been president in 1984, I have never run out of my country because of instability.”
But many Ugandans on Thursday expressed opposition to Museveni seeking another term in 2021.
“Wicked!” said Jasper Tumuhimbise, a priest. “He wants to stay because all along that was his nature: Power retention, and that means Uganda, like Zimbabwe, will maintain a downward trend and kleptocracy.”
Businessman Kenneth Otim said the plan was “unfortunate because it seeks to extend the term of the current president to an unprecedented 40 years. It’s designed for only one man.”
Sandra Auma, a trader born in 1986, the year Museveni took power, said removing the age limit was wrong. “The country is run like a privately owned kindergarten where rules are changed anytime for the interest of the owner.”
Grace Bwogi, a farmer, said Museveni wanted to cling to office out of greed.
“Our economy is already crumbling. All sectors are rotten. They need an overhaul,” she said.
But Michael Woira, 26, a communications officer, said Museveni was entitled to seek reelection.
“There is a saying that it is only a fool who does not change his mind, so, if President Museveni has changed his mind and he still needs to be president, he is free to take on the opposition.”