AGE LIMIT: Yes 317, No 97

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Constitution Amendment Bill 2017 has passed the Second reading with the requried two-thirds majority. The vote result was 317 YES, 97 NO.

For the vote to be carried, it required two thirds which is 289 of 434 MPs.

The House has already started considering clause by clause of the report at committee stage before a vote is taken at the third reading for it to pass into an act of parliament pending assent of the president of Uganda Yoweri Museveni.

Two clauses of the amendment bill have been approved this evening.

First is for the tenure of parliament to be extended from five to seven years. The MPs approved a 7-year term for Parliament and local governments positions starting with ongoing term.

This was quickly followed by approval of article 102 (b), lifting the age limit of 75 for one to contest for presidency.

Finally the House reinstated the presidential terms in the constitution by passing clause 105 of the Bill. The clause states that, “A person shall not hold office as President for more than two terms.”

Hon Tusiime moves to amend the constitution introducing a 7 year term of office for the current parliament running from its first sitting. This means the term of the current parliament will run up to 2023. #AgeLimitBill #PlenaryUg

— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) December 20, 2017

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Earlier, lawyers of the suspended six MPs, led by shadow attorney general Wilfred Nuwagaba, have this afternoon attempted to enter parliament to give notice to the Speaker and Attorney General to appear before the High Court today.

The six MPs are protesting the legality of the decision by the Speaker to suspend them from the ongoing constitution ammendment bill. The suspended MPs are  Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Allan Ssewanyana, Gerald Karuhanga, Jonathan Odur, Anthony Akol and Mubarak Manyangwa.

They lawyers were blocked at the gates of Parliament, with MPs Medard Ssegona and Nuwagaba who had the papers to serve the Speaker, detained by police.

Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana said one can’t serve court orders in the precinct of parliament.

Soon after, Speaker Kadaga suspended the house for 30 minutes to 2.15pm when roll call and vote on the different sections of the Constitution Amendment bill report started.

Among the several proposed amendments, is lifting Article 102(b) of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda – to remove the age limits (35 – 75) for presidential candidates. That is why the bill has been dubbed the “Age Limit” bill.

Report on the Uganda Constitution Amendment(No.2) Bill, 2017 by The Independent Magazine on Scribd