Six MPs petition court over age limit law

Petitioned. Opposition Members of Parliament and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago at court yesterday. The MPs have petitioned court seeking to annul the recently passed age limit law. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA

What you need to know:

  • Issue. Five of the legislators are also challenging their suspension from parliamentary proceedings.
  • Consultation. Further in their petition, the MPs state that the people of Uganda were not effectively and widely consulted on the impugned Constitution (Amendment) Bill in contravention of Articles 1, 8A and 79 of the Constitution.
  • "The petitioners (the aforementioned MPs), are affected and aggrieved by the events and process leading to and the actual enactment of the purported constitution (Amendment) Act, 2017, the same being inconsistent with and in contravention of the 1995 Constitution,”,”
    mps state in their petition

KAMPALA. Six Members of Parliament (MPs) including the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Ms Winfred Kizza, last evening filed a petition before the Constitutional Court, seeking to annul the recently passed age limit law.

Core to their petition is that they will adduse evidence at the hearing to show that the events and process leading to and the actual enactment of the purported constitution (Amendment) Act, 2017 were inconsistent with the Constitution.

The MPs seeking are; Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality), Jonathan Odur (Erute County), Mubarak Munyagwa (Kawempe South), Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West) and Ibrahim Ssemujju (Kira Municipality).
“The petitioners (the aforementioned MPs), are affected and aggrieved by the events and process leading to and the actual enactment of the purported Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2017, the same being inconsistent with and in contravention of the 1995 Constitution,” the MPs state in their petition

Illegal
The MPs also warn in their petition that the amendment of the Constitution that saw the current term of the President, MPs and local government councils, extended from five to seven years, was done against the preamble of the 1995 Constitution that had considered the ugly past of Uganda and put measures to avoid repeat.

But the extension of President Museveni’s tenure to seven years will have to be subjected to a referendum.
Further in their petition, the MPs state that Ugandans were not effectively and widely consulted on the impugned Constitution (Amendment) Bill in contravention of Articles 1, 8A and 79 of the Constitution.
They are also challenging the actions of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament for having smuggled into the constitution (Amendment) Bill provisions like extension of the tenure of the President, MPs and local government councils and also restoration of presidential term limits.

“The actions of Parliament to include in the constitution (Amendment) Bill items concerning the extension of the life/term of Parliament and local government councils from five to seven years and restoration of presidential term limits which were not part of the original Bill at the time, was inconsistent with Articles 1, 8A, 79, 90, 91, 94 and 259 of the Constitution,” the MPs contend

Suspension
The legislators are also challenging their suspension from Parliamentary proceedings by the Speaker on December 18, last year when the Rapheal Magyezi Bill was being debated.
The Speaker suspended the MPs for alleged indiscipline during the then heated debate that finally saw 317 MPs mainly from the ruling NRM party vote in favour of amendment of the Constitution.
Likewise, these Opposition MPs are challenging the invasion of Parliament by security operatives whom they claim assaulted them.

They are also challenging the disruption of their rallies in their respective constituencies as they consulted their voters about the age limit Bill by the security.
Through their lawyers of Lukwago and Co Advocates and Rwakafuuzi and Co. Advocates, the MPs’ major prayer is to annul all the amendments made by Parlaiment in regard to the Bill which was on December 27 last year signed into law by President Museveni.

Their other prayer is to annul section 3 of the Constitution (Amendment) that lifted the minimum and maximum age qualifications of a citizen to contest to be elected President.
The filing of this petition comes barely three days after the Uganda Law Society led by their president, Mr Francis Gimara, also filed a similar petition seeking to also annul the age limit law.
The lawyers listed nine grounds that they want court to consider in annuling this contested law.

The law society petiton
The Uganda Law Society early this week filed a petition in the Constitutional Court challenging the Constitution Amendment Act that removed the presidential age limit.
They gave nine grounds why the Act should be annulled by the court. The petition is supported by affidavits of Mr Gimara, Prof Frederic Ssempebwa and Prof Ogenga Latigo.

The Law Society is challenging the entire process through which the Bill was conceptualised, subjected to constituency consultations, tabled in Parliament, debated and passed and subsequently signed into an Act by President Museveni last month.