The Uganda Supreme Court on Thursday backed constitutional changes that scrapped the age limit for presidential aspirants. The move has made Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni eligible to contest in the 2021 elections.
The appeal to bar the removal of the upper age limit was filed by opponents of the president in a bid to stop him from seeking a sixth term in 2021. The legal challenge to the amendment was first filed in the constitutional court which rejected the petition. The rejection in the constitutional court triggered an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The decision was arrived at by majority four out of the seven judges and read by the country’s Chief Justice Bart Katureebe.
“By a majority decision of 4 to 3, the decision of the Constitutional Court is upheld and this appeal therefore fails,” said Chief Justice Katureebe in a ruling that was broadcast live, reported Africa News.
Back in December 2017, the Constitutional Court judges ruled 4-1 that the parliament’s removal of the age limits of 75 years as the maximum and 35 years as the minimum for one to run for the presidency did not contravene the constitution. The original legislation would have barred 74-year-old Museveni from contesting in the next elections due in 2021.
Opposition legislators, civil society organizations and Uganda Law Society have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court to challenge the judges’ decision. They argue that the amendment is unconstitutional and therefore want it revoked.
The constitution amendment process was marred by widespread violence including police dispersing rallies by MPs consulting their constituents on the amendments and beatings and detentions of opposition activists.
Eldad Mwangusya, one of the three justices who ruled in favor of the petition, said widespread violence and security personnel interference in MPs’ public consultations made the removal of the age limit unconstitutional.
