Uganda NRM legislators resolve to remove presidential age limit

The MPs during the meeting at Parliament on Tuesday. Photo |Daily Monitor

What you need to know:

  • The current Constitution provides, among other requirements, that only persons aged 35-75 years are eligible to stand and be voted as president.
  • The incumbent Yoweri Museveni is 73-years-old and is, under the current Constitution, ineligible to stand in 2021 when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential and general elections.

Kampala. Members of Parliament subscribing to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party on Tuesday passed a resolution to move a motion in Parliament on Thursday, this week, to amend the Constitution and remove the upper age cap on a prospective president.

The current Constitution provides, among other requirements, that only persons aged 35-75 years are eligible to stand and be voted as president.

The incumbent Yoweri Museveni is 73-years-old and is, under the current Constitution, ineligible to stand in 2021 when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential and general elections.

Some Independent MPs attended Thursday’s Caucus of the ruling party and voted in favour of the resolution. Only MPs Monicah Amoding (NRM; Kumi) and John Baptist Nambeshe (NRM; Manjiya) opposed the resolution. They stormed out of the room where the MPs were meeting when the matter went to vote.

Proponents of the resolution say one of the lawmakers subscribing to the NRM, a backbencher and not a minister, will on Thursday seek leave of Parliament to introduce an omnibus Private Member’s Bill to amend Articles 102 (b), 108(3a) and 108(4).