Parliament on Thursday was fully packed as MPs eagerly waited for Igara West lawmaker Raphael Magyezi to table a Private Members’ Bill to remove the 75 years presidential age cap.
Tension was high as Parliament was surrounded by police and the army. The opposition, civil society and many Ugandans had created a situation that the country was going to run into unprecedented violence if the motion was tabled.
Sensing danger, Parliament Business Committee held a heated meeting to forge away on how to handle the age limit motion.
Eventually, the plenary sitting kicked off a few minutes past 2:17pm, with Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah chairing the session.
With a lot of whispering going on among MPs, Oulanyah broke the good or bad news for MPs depending on where they stood on age limit.
He noted that Speakers needed more time to evaluate the age limit motion.
Oulanyah said Magyezi, who had filed his motion with the Speaker’s office hadn’t attached a notice to his motion.
“Let us not do things that will make other people excited to do things they would desire to do against some of us. Let us not tickle people who haven’t laughed for years to give them an opportunity to laugh,” Oulanyah said.
He also condemned the military siege on Parliament.
“What we have seen today is exception, I don’t know if it was necessitated but it has gone way above what we had expected,” he said.
After Oulanyah’s remarks, Leader of Opposition Winfred Kiiza took to the floor, condemning the heavy deployment at Parliament.
“That MPs can’t have access to represent their people is something that should be condemned and should never happen again. We may accept that it may have been done for purposes of security of MPs, it was necessary they communicate to MPs early enough,” she said.
She asked Oulanyah to adjourn the House in order to give MPs time to go reflect on the events of the day.
“I would request that you find it within your powers to adjourn the House and give members time to reflect on what has happened. To even give us that working environment that is secure and free of intimidation,” she pleaded.
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda stood up to provide answers to the security concerns raised calling on MPs to calm down, after all they were seated in the chambers comfortably. His remarks infuriated MPs especially the opposition and this was followed by exchange of attacks, with almost NRM and opposition MPs boxing each other.
With Parliament increasingly become rowdy, the Speaker was forced to adjourn the House until next week. This saw Opposition MPs go into wild celebrations.
At the end of the day, the numbers and guns didn’t win; Opposition won round one.
