Kyadondo East lawmaker Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has asked for a national referendum on the contentious presidential age limit.
A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision.
In his petition to the Electoral Commission, Kyagulanyi said through the referendum, “the people shall demand that Article 102 (b) is left intact and that in addition, term limits for the position of President are immediately restored in the Constitution with an entrenchment clause.”
While Kyagulanyi calls for the national referendum to determine an issue that has divided public opinion, he does not discuss how government will raise money for the cause in this financial year.
At least Shs 800bn was spent in the 2016 general elections.
A new electoral exercise just two years after a national election would mean spending almost the same amount of money from the taxpayers’ purse.
But Kyagulanyi says the referendum is a pivotal issue on which “every Ugandan must be heard” and that it would give an opportunity to the common person at all levels and in all corners of the country to “reassert their sovereignty…”
Kyagulanyi asked EC to avail him with copies of the National Register of Voters which the Commission is mandated to compile, maintain and update under section 18 of the Electoral Commission Act, Cap 140.
“This will enable us ascertain how many voters constitute the required one tenth in the respective districts to collect their signatures.
Section 11 of the Referendum and other Provisions Act, 2005 provides that the Electoral Commission shall cause a referendum to be held nationally if a petition is made in writing and is supported by at least one tenth of the total registered voters from at least one third of the districts of Uganda.
Kyagulanyi said the people of Uganda through the Constituent Assembly agreed to put the upper limit for anyone to stand for the position of President at 75 years of age, and the “discourse all over the country clearly shows that Ugandans have not changed their minds on this.”
However, supporters of the Constitutional Amendment say it discriminates the elderly who able to provide good leadership.
They further state that it’s the duty of MPs to make laws and that constitutions all over the world are subjected to amendments.
The main architect of the bill, Igara West MP Raphael Magezi, says he has widely consulted his constituents who have endorsed the proposed constitutional amendment.