Supreme Court should rule on age limit appeal

Going by the Uganda Code of Judicial Conduct, the Supreme Court should have delivered the much awaited verdict on the appeal on removal of the presidential age limit from the constitution latest by last Saturday.

However, the highest appellate court failed to live up to the provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct as it did not read out the verdict.
The pending judgment has a huge bearing on the politics of this country as the election roadmap/activities towards 2021 general election gain momentum.

This is because the court’s core role is, among others, expected to determine the eligibility of President Museveni to contest again since he will be aged above 75 in 2021 following the removal of the age limit clause from the Constitution, which is being contested in the court.

President Museveni has already been endorsed by the top organ of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and also the party Parliament Caucus at the Kyankwanzi retreat last week as the sole candidate to carry the party’s flag for the presidential candidate.

Judgments go either way. Supposing the Supreme Court, whether unanimously or by majority decision, holds that last year’s amendment of the Constitution that scrapped the upper cap of the presidential age limit of 75 years and lower age limit cap of 35 was unconstitutional. Such a decision will affect the ruling party in as far as preparing for the 2021 presidential race.

It would have to organise fresh internal arrangements to pick another candidate to replace Mr Museveni, who has already been selected as the party’s candidate for 2021. In law, there is what is called “being overtaken by events”. It would be a disservice to Ugandans if the Supreme Court pronounces itself on the appeal very late, thereby disrupting electoral preparations for the 2021 contest.

The Electoral Commission (EC), the government’s body charged with the conduct of national elections, has also come up with the strategic plan and the roadmap for 2020/21. The EC too needs certainty to execute its constitutional mandate. As such, the Supreme Court, whose pending judgment has a huge bearing on the forthcoming general election, leaves it in big suspense.

We are alive to the fact that such high profile judgments are overwhelming as each judge is expected to come up with their own decision and such a process takes a longer time to be completed. However, the court should have suspended any other work to dispose of this matter expeditiously.

Also when judgments which have a huge bearing on the country’s future politics take long to be delivered, they leave room for uncalled-for speculations and breeds public anxiety.

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