Lawmakers are debating a report of the committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The bill seeks to restore presidential terms limits, removal of the position of prime minister, removal of the army from parliament among others.
Debate on the controversial bill was last week postponed to allow MPs access the report of the committee and internalize it.
Although the extension of the term for all political offices to seven years was not among the proposals Niwagaba included in his Private Member’s Bill seeking to amend the Constitution to change the structure of government, the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee proposed the extension.
“Presidential term limits to be meaningful, the presidential term has to be sufficient enough to enable the President implement and fulfil his or her manifesto. It is the considered opinion of the Committee that the term of five years is insufficient for the implementation of the manifesto in order to have a meaningful impact on the development of the country.” reads excerpts from the Majority report.
In the debate on Tuesday, Hon. Gutomoi has demanded that the Committee of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs apologises and withdraws the proposal to increase the term of Parliament and other civil servants from five (5) to seven (7) year term.
Hon. Gilbert Olanya has instead appealed to Parliament to consider reducing the term of elected leaders including MPs and the President from five (5) to four (4) years instead of increasing it to seven (7) years.
It should be recalled that while amending the Constitution in December 2017, Parliament voted to extend its term of office from five to seven years but it was rejected by the Constitutional Court in a petition by Male Mabirizi and others Vs Attorney General.
The matter went to court and Justices of the Constitutional Court ruled that it would be a breach of contract entered with the electorate at the start of the current term in May 2016.
In their ruling on July 26, 2018, the justices said MPs ought to have extended the tenure of Parliament through a referendum because this was a crucial matter that needed public participation and endorsement.
