The 1995 Constitution is wearing thin on retreads

Watching the parliamentary debate Tuesday, it is clear the debate to amend the Constitution to lift the age limit in Article 102 of the Constitution has left lasting damage. The pithy sight of MPs Betty Nambooze and Francis Butebi Zaake in the chamber was sorrowful limping from their wounds. The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Winnie Kiiza, was slow in building her points intentionally understating them; this was historic as its only other sequel was the dragging of five Cabinet ministers from Cabinet by president Milton Obote in 1966.
How did we get here so fast? First, President Museveni’s biggest achievement establishing firm control over the military wrongly blamed for the rise of misrule in the 1960s has turned out to be his biggest Achilles heel. The different organs created formally and informally may be impossible for another leader to control. These organs suffer from a shameful lack of diversity, a major misstep in a reign that has lasted more than 35 years.
One wondered whether Speaker Rebecca Kadaga meant what she was saying after summoning the service chiefs and directing that the Office of the President be sealed off from the gangway leading to Parliament. The filial nature of the military, police and leadership of other security organs like ISO, ESO makes it very difficult for a civilian to assume reign over them.
Second, the constitutional provisions talk very little about transition. Just two articles of the Constitution say something about it. Article 106 provides for retirement benefits of a president. Article 107 talks about grounds for removal for the president, the full grounds seem to be an afterthought. Article 98 provides for qualified immunity that expires while the President is in office.
In Zimbabwe, proclamations of doubtful constitutionality have been made to declare Robert G Mugabe and his wife immune from any court proceedings, and have attached the same to their property for the remainder of their lives. Uganda is silent on what would happen to the business and property interests of the incumbent. Situations like the Augustin Pinochet in Chile, Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria or even that of Richard Nixon given that the US president’s power to use force against the enemies of the United States extends to ordering execution of stated enemies domestic and foreign.
In Uganda, we don’t have an equivalent regime to provide full protection.
Parliament has also abrogated its duty to describe in detail what the life of a former president would look like. The Vatican went to great lengths to restate that Pope Benedict would not lose his title, ceremonial garb and retain access to the city state. Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa have favoured active ex-presidencies. Ex-presidents actually show up to work. In Kenya, an ex-president retains nearly all the benefits of a sitting president. Robert Mugabe’s send-off was quite cheap given that he had been around for 30 years as president. At $10 million plus an annual salary of $150,000. I doubt that a Museveni settlement would be limited to such financial terms.
So predictably, rather than test the fidelity of his successors, President Museveni has blinked. He will stay put until another survey in 2031 just three years of neighbour President Kagame, who has a possibly even more volatile situation, considers fresh amendments. The West can predictably rely on him to protect their interests. Geography has put Uganda in a very unpredictable region rapidly growing in population. Uganda’s fragmented politics are only likely to fragment further in 2021; we are likely to see the rise of more frictional, religious and ethnocentric outfits.
The current national outcry, “Togikwatako,” will be overtaken by an even more vicious campaign to uproot the MPs, who passed it oblivious of the source of the problem. Using his time-tested tactics, President Museveni will selectively wear them out promoting winners and losers in the Opposition as he has so effectively done.

Mr Ssemogerere is an Attorney-at-Law and an Advocate. [email protected]