Cabinet, Parliament set for battle to increase presidential terms

Two weeks after President Museveni was voted in for the fourth term, the cabinet and a number of ruling party MPs are planning to have the presidential term extended from five to seven. Sunday Monitor’s Gerald Bareebe looks at the next battle to push through the proposed constitutional amendment.

The controversial proposal by a cabinet Minister to extend Presidential term limits from five to seven years has sparked a rift between Cabinet and legislators and set a stage for a political battle that could define the ninth parliament.

Whereas a group of Cabinet Ministers is pushing for the proposal to be given priority by the ruling party’s parliamentary caucus, many MPs are demanding that the proposal should not be debated as it is “of no use”

The State Minister for Health, Mr James Kakooza, who is the brain behind the proposal, has told Sunday Monitor that he intends to table his plan before cabinet and request his colleagues to join him in cajoling Parliament to approve the constitutional amendment.
If approved, the proposal would lead into amending article 105 of the Constitution to extend the presidential term from the current five years to seven.

But outspoken ruling party MPs, including Henry Banyezaki (Rubanda West), Emmanuel Dombo (Bunyole County) and Chris Baryomunsi (Kinkizi East) have vowed to fight Kakooza’s proposal which they say is “unjustified”.

Mr Kakooza, who in 2005 hatched a grand strategy that kick-started Museveni’s 4th term bid, says he has never lost any political arguement, and that like how he maneuvered the fourth term battle, he is determined to trounce his nemeses in this new political struggle.

“I have brought the idea so that members can start to think about it,” Mr Kakooza said.
“Our Constitution says power belongs to the people, and if people still like the President, who are we to stop them?” Why should we retire a person who is sweeping 68% in the national poll?”

In supporting his idea, Mr Kakooza argued that the current five-term period does not allow sufficient time for a head of state to implement what they have set out in their election manifestos because Uganda’s political system is designed in such a way that two years is lost in politicking.

“Can you imagine that two years has been lost in campaigns,” Mr Kakoza said.
“Any elected person either in local or central government will find it hard to implement or monitor government projects in such a short time. I am pushing ahead with this because democracy demands us to spend more time in developing infrastructure, not in elections.”

According to Mr Kakooza, the new proposal would allow the President to spend five years formulating and implementing government programmes and the last two years would be principally spent on planning and strategising for the presidential and local council elections.

The Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda’s largest opposition party which says the just- concluded presidential election was a sham, has condemned the proposal and described Mr Kakooza as “puppet” of Museveni.

But NRM Chief Whip Daudi Migereko has told Sunday Monitor that the party’s caucus will sit to discuss Kakooza’s proposal. He says it is necessary for the party to reach a consensus on the matter before bringing it to the public domain.

Because of the litigious constitutional changes the amendment could bring, Mr Migereko said there is a need to discuss both the merits and demerits of the idea before it is adopted by Cabinet and Parliament.

“The NRM caucuses will first discuss the proposal and generate consensus,” Mr Migereko said, adding, “When Parliament resumes business, it might be one of the issues the NRM caucus will handle first. We shall create space to discuss this because, in NRM, we try to encourage free debate.”

Once hailed as one of the new breed of African leaders, Mr Museveni has been criticised for scrapping presidential terms limits that opponents say was designed to make the 67-year-old NRM party leader to be president for life.

Mr Kakooza’s proposal is therefore likely to draw more critism against Mr Museveni who, after capturing power in 1986, promised democratic values. If adopted by Cabinet, the proposal will easily be passed by the NRM-dominated Parliament where it has 279 members against opposition’s 59.

If the ninth Parliament agrees to the amendments to increase the Presidential term, Mr Kakooza said, Mr Museveni would be allowed to rule for more seven years after 2016 and thereafter retire honourably.

Mr Museveni, without ruling out contesting again in 2016, was last month quoted as saying he is not ready to leave the country in the hands of “timewasters”.

“I like my cows better than this State House, but no one is right to take over. I cannot live the country to these timewasters. Change from what? From one weakness to another weakness? This is not a beauty contest. 2016 shall be decided according to the strength of Africa,” Museveni said.

Two weeks ago, the Electoral Commission declared Museveni winner of last month poll with 68 per cent against his closest challenger Dr Besigye who trailed at 26 per cent. Dr Besigye has since rejected the results citing massive fraud in the exercise. He has also threatened to stage street protests to demand for fresh, free and fair general elections organised under an independent, competent and representative Electoral Commission after a clean voters’ register has been compiled and uniform voter identification has been established.

Dr Besigye, who for the past 15 years has been seen as the only credible challenger of Museveni, has already indicated that he will step down after his term to allow new members in his party to take over its leadership.

However, there is growing anxiety both local and in the diplomatic circles that the absence of a strong opposition leader-- at least of Besigye’s caliber--could give Museveni a leeway to amend the Constitution at his own will and stay in power as long as he wants, with little or no resistance.

The recent released diplomatic cable by a whistle blowing website, wikileaks, shows that America is in some way frustrated with Museveni for “eroding Uganda’s status as an African success story” because of his “ autocratic tendencies and pervasive corruption”

With Museveni expected to run again in 2016, political observers say, Mr Kakooza’s proposal could be part of a new project to allow NRM and Mr Museveni escape a 75-year constitutional age limit and rule Uganda until he is 83 years old.

Prof. Khiddu Makubuya, the attorney general and minister of constitutional affairs, has told Sunday Monitor that he is ready to move the motion demanding for amendment to extend presidential term when the right time comes.

“For now my priority is on monitoring the on-going elections,” Mr Makubuya said during a telephone Interview. “When that time comes and it becomes necessary to look into constitutional amendments, I will do it and I will deal with it very well.”

Citing the courage and the energy with which Mr Kakooza is pushing the proposal, Makerere University political scientist Mwambutsya Ndebesa warned MPs against passing the legislation which he said will cause political frustration and eventually affect democratic participation.

High voter apathy
Mr Mwambutsya’s argument cannot be overlooked, not at least if one considers the growing voter apathy exhibited in the just concluded presidential polls. According to results released by the Electoral Commission, of the 13,954,129 registered voters only 8,272,760 voters voted, representing 59.28 per cent. A total of 5.6m of the registered voters (44 per cent) didn’t turn up to vote.

Political analysts have argued that voters who did not cast their ballot are largely those who are frustrated with the President but feel that their vote will not count.
This is attributed to Museveni’s dogmatic rhetoric and the ever-dominating NRM propaganda that “Museveni can never be defeated through ballot.”

And the President has been using this to pull out all the stops to stay in power. “A freedom fighter cannot lose an election” said Mr Museveni during his campaign tour of Kasese district, an opposition stronghold.

When Dr Besigye in 2001 said Mr Museveni was a “power-hungry politician” who will not handover power until he has been forced to do so, he was criticised by senior government officials including security minister, Amama Mbabazi.

The man, who once said the problem with African leaders was overstaying in power, now is the very one who wants to stay in power beyond 2016, Besigye said.

With Besigye, who for the past 15 years has been the force in the push for political reform planning to retire from national politics, many Ugandans will start to feel that so long as Mr Museveni is still in power, there is no need for any effort to change the system since its Museveni, rather than Uganda, that has the army and the treasury to keep himself in power by hook or crook.

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Who is James Kakooza?

Mr James Kakooza is Uganda’s State Minister for Health and member of the Ruling National Resistance Movement party. He holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration from Nkumba University, a diploma in Clearing and Forwarding and a post graduate certificate in Custom Basics and Tax administration.

In 2001, Mr Kakooza was elected Member of Parliament for Kabula County, a position he has held till today. Mr Kakooza has worked as a business director - Kabale Distributors Ltd. (1994 - 2001), Clearing and Forwarding Agent (1992-2001) , Banking Officer - Sembule Bank (1991 - 1992), Accounts Officer - Karibu Forex (1989 - 1990), Director Uganda Importers and Exporters Traders Association.

In 2005, Mr Kakooza became popular after he hatched the plan to have Museveni run for a third and fourth term in office. His appointment as a minister was largely seen as a reward from Museveni for having spearheaded this project.

He is a member of the parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises. However, concerns about Kakooza’s education background have been a matter of speculation for quite a long time in Uganda.
But he insists that he has a certification recognising him as a Certified Public Accountant in Kenya.