Opposition split on seven-year term

Kampala. Only one out of 21 MPs who on December 22 last year voted against removing presidential age limits and extending the current electoral term from five to seven years, agree with Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze that they should resign to force a by-election if the courts do not throw out the amendment.
Ms Nambooze says she has made “an individual decision” to resign if elections are not held in 2021 as was the contract with the voters when they elected her in February 2016.
“I am not forcing it on anybody,” Ms Nambooze says.

On September 27, 2016, the day Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi was granted leave by Parliament to prepare the Bill, plain-clothes operatives commanded by Brig Don Nabasa of the Special Forces Command invaded Parliament after Speaker Rebecca Kadaga had suspended 25 MPs and asked the Sergeant at Arms to remove them from the House.
Police chief Gen Kale Kayihura would later own up to arranging the storming of Parliament.

Ms Nambooze dislocated bones in her back during the scuffle in what she told this newspaper was “a premeditated” attack on her following weeks of brewing tensions between those opposed to the Bill and its backers.
She was treated for a month in Kampala and later taken to India where she underwent an operation.
The Opposition legislator cut short her recuperation time to attend the debate on the Bill in December but she was taken ill, and eventually missed the voting.

The proposal has since been signed into law by President Museveni, meaning that the 73-year-old leader, who has ruled Uganda since January 1986, will be eligible for re-election in 2021 for another term unless the legal challenge being mooted by the opponents of the Act succeeds.
There is also the possibility that the presidential election will instead happen in 2023, at which time Mr Museveni will be 79, if the backers of the changes push through the proposed referendum to also extend the current presidential term to seven years.

Regarding the extension of terms, Ms Nambooze says: “Extending my political tenure from five to seven years without consulting my voters would be political dishonesty. First of all, we only consulted on (presidential) age limit but not extending the term, and that is why I would rather resign and then seek re-election (in a by-election). But if my colleagues take a different decision (to stay on until 2023), then they have the right. But they need to remember that this is a moment of truth for the Opposition.”

Divided opinions
If an MP resigns, dies or is removed from office, the Electoral Commission is obliged to conduct a by-election within 60 days of being notified of the same by the Clerk to Parliament. So if the courts maintain the law and Ms Nambooze resigns her position in May 2021, the Electoral Commission would have to conduct a by-election by not later than July 2021, in which by-election she would probably stand.

By offering to resign in protest against the retrospective extension of the term of Parliament, which Ms Nambooze says is immoral and constitutes a conflict of interest on the part of the MPs, the Mukono Municipality MP would perhaps be looking to seize the moral high ground with the voters and hoping to be rewarded with a new mandate.
But not many of her colleagues we talked to for this article are keen to take that route.

Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala-Mafabi was the only MP we talked to who was categorical in his support for Ms Nambooze’s proposal.
Mr Nandala-Mafabi said: “I don’t support the seven-year term because it is unconstitutional, and resignation (in 2021) is the way to go if the government insists on holding elections in 2023. But we are sure of successfully challenging it in court.”

Mr Nandala-Mafabi, the secretary-general of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), is backed by his new party president Patrick Amuriat.
Mr Amuriat says: “The whole matter is shrouded in illegalities which are challengeable in court. But as FDC, we strongly support MPs who want to resign when elections are not held in 2021. All MPs made a social contract with Ugandans and when the term is extended from five to seven years, it ceases to be in the interest of Ugandans who entrusted MPs with power.”
But Ms Cecilia Ogwal, the Dokolo Woman MP who is also a member of FDC, says the decision on the matter should be delayed.

Ms Ogwal says: “This matter doesn’t need individual decision because we don’t know what could unfold next to guide our next course of action. It is a matter that requires general consensus and since the seven-year term was just smuggled into the Bill, we surely believe that we shall win (in court), meaning that we shouldn’t rush to make decisions.”

Lira Municipality MP Jimmy Akena, who is also the president of Uganda People Congress (UPC) and voted against the Bill, remained non-committal on whether he would resign his seat in 2021 as proposed by Ms Nambooze, but insisted they are unlikely to be forced to make that decision because he trusts in the courts.
“We are hopeful that court will nullify the seven-year extension because it would be unconstitutional to extend the years yet we were elected to serve for only five years. We only consulted on presidential age-limit but not the extension of years. But, we are also hopeful of the referendum on the matter,” Mr Akena said.

Mr Norbert Mao, the president of the Democratic Party for which Ms Nambooze is the vice president for Buganda region, also says it is important to wait for the court process to be concluded before a decision is made.
“It is premature for now to comment on that matter because it is already in court and we believe that the seven-year term (to apply retrospectively) is unconstitutional. I think we shall have our position as Opposition when the matter is disposed of in court,” Mr Mao says.

More wait-and-see MPs
The other MPs who we talked to and said it is premature to take a decision now are Robert Centenary of Kasese Municipality, National youth MP Anna Adeke, Bukonzo West MP Godfrey Katusabe, Padyer County MP Joshua Anywarach and Bwamba County MP Richard Gafabusa.
The others are Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga of Mukono South, Kato Lubwama of Rubaga South, Muhindo Harold of Bukonzo West, Kiryandongo Woman MP Kahunde Hellen, Latif Ssebaggala of Kawempe North, Florence Namayanja (Masaka woman), Michael Kamugisha (Kajara County), Moris Kibalya (Bugabula South) and Francis Gonahasa (Kabweri County).

Kabarole Woman MP Sylvia Rwabwogo, Alex Ruhunda (Fort Partal Municipality), Mpigi Woman MP Sarah Nakawunde, Jie County MP Moses Adome and Mbale Woman MP Connie Nakayenze were also undecided on the matter.
Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo, a ruling party member who voted against the Bill, maintains that extending the term of Parliament from five to seven years is “unconstitutional”. But, he adds, “I can’t be a lone ranger on this pertinent issue and that is why I will wait for court and the position of my colleagues.”
Buyaga County MP Barnabas Tinkansimire, who along with Mr Ssekibukubo and a few others have been dubbed “rebel” MPs in the ruling party, also prefers to bide his time.

Mr Tinkasiimire said: “I can’t predict the ruling of court on the matter but should we reach in 2021 before this matter is disposed of, then we shall take a decision. However, our decision will be reached after consulting with our voters.”
Another ruling party member, Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa of Bwamba County, says he would need to consult his people.
“I made a social contract with the voters in Bwamba County to serve for only five years. First of all, I voted against the whole constitutional amendment because I was representing the views of my people. Now for the seven year term, it would still require me to go back and consult my voters, but since the matter is in court, let’s wait for what comes out,” Mr Gafabusa said.

History repeats itself
In 1989 when Mr Museveni had been in power for hardly four years, Mr Wasswa Ziritwawula, then a member of the National Resistance Council (NRC) which served as the parliament, resigned his seat after a decision was taken to extend the life of the legislature for five years without elections.
Reflecting on the events that led to his resignation, Mr Ziritwawula told Saturday Monitor that whereas the NRC ordinarily sat in the afternoons, the members were on one occasion invited for a sitting to start at 9am.
On reaching the House, Mr Ziritwawula says, they found the Bill for the extension of their term of office in their pigeon holes.

Whereas the members were ordinarily given 14 days to study a Bill before debating on it, Mr Ziritwawula adds, a motion was moved to waive the rule and debate on the Bill ensued immediately. Mr Ziritwawula compares this to the waiving of some of the rules of procedure as Parliament debated the age limit Bill.
Mr Ziritwawula argued during the debate that NRC members could not pass a Bill to extend their mandate, which he argued had to be referred back to the voters.

He further argued that since the NRM “interim” administration was supposed to last for four years, it was unacceptable that the Bill sought for an extension of five years, which was longer than the original term of office of the NRM/NRC.
Mr Ziritwawula further argued that if the term of the NRC were to be extended then by the members, a bad precedent would be set that future parliaments would look to extend their own terms.
“What goes round comes round,” Mr Ziritwawula said in regard to the Bill that President Museveni has since signed into law, among other things extending the term of Parliament from five to seven years. “I fully support Ms Nambooze’s vow to resign as a matter of principle,” he says.

About the Bill

The constitution amendment Bill as tabled by Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi was primarily about deleting Article 105(b) from the Constitution, thereby removing the 35-year lower age limit and 75-year upper age limit for presidential candidates.
But the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs to which it was referred for scrutiny recommended in its majority report, among other things, that in addition to removing the presidential age limits, the term of Parliament should be extended from five to seven years, starting with the current parliament, and the term extension would later be extended to cover the local governments and the presidency, although extending the term of the presidency , since it is an entrenched provision of the Constitution, would require to be sanctioned through a referendum.
The amendments were pushed through on December 22, 2017 when 317 MPs voted in favour, 97 voted against with two abstentions.

WHAT LEGISLATORS SAY

Cecilia Ogwal, Dokolo Woman MP: “This matter doesn’t need individual decision because we don’t know what could unfold next to guide our next course of action. It requires general consensus and since the seven-year term was just smuggled into the Bill, we surely believe that we shall win (in court). We shouldn’t rush to make decisions.”

Betty Nambooze, Mukono Municipality MP: “Extending my political tenure from five to seven years without consulting my voters would be political dishonesty. First of all, we only consulted on (presidential) age limit but not extending the term, and that is why I would rather resign and then seek re-election (in a by-election).

Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, Budadiri West MP: “I don’t support the seven-year term because it is unconstitutional, and resignation (in 2021) is the way to go if the government insists on holding elections in 2023. But we are sure of successfully challenging it in court.”

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