How scrapping of age limit shaped new Cabinet  

Some of the new Cabinet ministers who were appointed on Saturday by President Yoweri Museveni were staunch supporters of the Bill to lift presidential term limits. During [and after] the debate of the Bill in Parliament, some of them were accorded military escorts .

A look at the notable appointees and how they were involved

Rafael Magyezi

Mr Magyezi, the Igara West MP has been in parliament since 2011. He is the current chairperson of  Parliament’s Public Service and Local Government committee.

He tabled the controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill, through which parliament lifted the cap on the presidential age.

Before and after the vote, Mr Magyezi secured armed security escorts from the State.

Judith Nabakooba

Ms Nabakooba the Mityana District Woman MP, is the new Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) replacing Mr Frank Tumwebaze who has been appointed Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Before joining Parliament in 2016, she served as Police spokesperson when Gen Kale Kayihura was the Inspector General of Police.

For two years, she served as the chairperson of Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee, a position in which she served for two years, and where she was accused by some MPs of handling with kid gloves, government officials who were summoned on various occasions to explain their operations and expenditure.

During the debate whether to scrap age limit for presidential candidates, Ms Nabakooba and Mr , Godfrey Kiwanda, [who retained the State minister for Tourism docket], were reportedly  stoned by some of their voters at Kiyoganyi, Bulera sub-county, Mityana District, who accused them of supporting the lifting of the presidential age limit from the Constitution.

Beatrice Anywar

The Kitgum Municipality MP is the new Minister of State for Environment, Anywar. She has been  MP Since 2006, initially as a member of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party. In In the 2016 Ms  Anywar quit the FDC party and backed former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s presidential candidature.

She contested as an independent candidate after being defeated during the FDC party primaries.

In December 2017, during the parliamentary vote to remove presidential age limits from the Constitution, Ms Anywar voted "Yes".

In Parliament, she is the current Deputy Chairperson of the Gender Labour and Social Development Committee. She previously served as Shadow Minister for Energy and Minerals and Shadow Minister for Water and Environment, a position she was given after her environment protection campaigns.

Jackson Kafuuzi

The new deputy attorney general is a lawyer by profession. MP for Kyaka South. He replaces Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana who has been appointed Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations.

 He joined parliament in 2016 and currently a member of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and the Human Rights Committee.

He remembered for seconding MP Magyezi’s Bill and he is one of the MPs that have since it’s passing, enjoyed special security protection from the State.

Gen Katumba Wamala

Before the Saturday Cabinet reshuffle, when he was elevated to the docket of Minister of Works and Transport, to replace Eng Monica Ntege Azuba [now a senior presidential advisor], Gen Katumba Wamala was the State Minister for Works

He is a former policeman and Chief of Defence Forces. Gen Wamala was an officer in the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) when the National Resistance Army (NRA) defeated the UNLA in 1986.

On the floor of Parliament, during the fracas that broke out Parliament in October 2017, Gen Wamala was accused of punching Mityana Municipality MP, Mr Francis Mutebi Zaake, one of the Opposition MPs who were opposed to Mr Raphael Magyezi's motion that sought to introduce a private member's bill proposing the removal of age limits.

Mr Zaake who was admitted to Rubaga Hospital in critical condition, later claimed that he was thumped by the former Chief of Defence Forces until he became unconscious.

“I don’t regret threatening to beat Zaake. I warned him against wild behaviour. The behaviour of Hon. Zaake in Parliament ever since these issues came up is for everybody to see. I had never seen it anywhere in the history of Parliament of Uganda that a Member of Parliament would jump on the Speaker’s table and put legs up like he’s doing gymnastics,” he said. “When the fracas was just starting, Hon Zaake removed his belt and started attacking everyone like he was under the influence of something,” Gen Katumba said in an interview with NTV.