Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Flickr/Foreign and Commonwealth Office. CC-BY-2.0.Three weeks ago, images of clashes between Uganda’s opposition and government MPs in the Ugandan parliament went viral. These clashes evolved around the potential amendment of the country’s constitution, which would pave way for the removal of the maximum age for presidential candidates at 75. At 73, President Museveni is constitutionally barred from running again; and the recently introduced bill aims to change this.
At the time of the clashes in parliament – which had a negative effect on Uganda’s image in the world – Museveni himself was out of the country, attending meetings in New York and in Brussels. By creating an apparent distance between himself and ongoing efforts to install himself as president for life, he is attempting to portray himself as the benevolent victim of the masses’ wishes, only obeying what his citizens want, but at the same time taking various measures to ensure the bill will pass.
What has happened so far?
The process started on the 21st September when a motion to seek leave of absence from parliament to prepare the bill was on the order paper of the plenary session. This provoked a strong reaction of opposition legislators, who stonewalled proceedings by heckling and shouting, causing an adjournment until September 26. Also this plenary session got off to a chaotic start: one opposition MP accused an NRM legislator of entering the legislative chamber with a firearm (a claim later confirmed by the Speaker of Parliament).
