Six Members of Parliament registered their intention to appeal against the judgments issued by the Constitutional court in a consolidated petition challenging the Constitutional Amendment Act through which parliament lifted the cap on the presidential age.
The MPs, among them Winnie Kiiza, Gerald Karuhanga, Jonathan Odur, Ibrahim Semujju, Allan Sewanyana and Mubarak Munyagwa, are appealing against 11 of the 14 decisions by the panel of five judges comprising, Deputy Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, Cheborion Barishaki, Elizabeth Musoke, Remmy Kasule and Kenneth Kakuru.
Four of the judges upheld amendments on the removal of age limitations from the Constitution. They, however, declared that amendments on reinstating presidential term limits and extending the term of office for legislators and local government leaders from five to seven years, were erroneous since they did not go through the right legislation procedure.
Only one Judge, Kenneth Kakuru ruled that the entire act is annulled while others voted to severe some clauses from the act and maintain those, that went through the entire legislation cycle. Now the MPs want the Appellant court to declare the decisions of the Constitutional court irregular and unconstitutional.
The decisions being challenged include; the pronouncement by four of the judges that Members of Parliament held fair consultations among Ugandans and that the petitioners had no sufficient evidence to show instances of widespread interruption of public consultation.
They argue that the judges erred when they ruled that despite being arbitrary, unfortunate, and unconstitutional, the directive by the Police Director of Operations Asuman Mugyenyi stopping consultations by MPs, did not affect the outcome of the consultation process.
They add that it was wrong for the judges to conclude that the 29 million Shillings given to each MP did not have any financial implication to the consolidated fund.
The MPs are also challenging the decision that the speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga did not violate the rules of parliament despite failing to ensure that doors were closed before voting, suspending a cross-section of legislators and refusing others to participate in the proceedings of the house.
Lawyer Erias Lukwago says that if the Judges had concentrated on the 11 issues raised, they would have nullified the entire Constitutional Amendment Act.
