The US ambassador in Uganda Debora Malac has condemned Wednesday’s police raid at the offices of an NGO that reportedly criticised plans to scrap the presidential age limit.
She said in a statement that she was “disturbed” by the raids:
Police conducted searches at ActionAid offices alongside other local NGOs.
The ambassador called on the Ugandan government to guarantee the rights of “its citizens freedom of speech, expression, and assembly, without fear of intimidation”.
MPs from the ruling NRM party have launched a plan to scrap the presidential age limit which currently stands at 75.
It is seen as a push to remove barriers that would block President Yoweri Museveni who has been in power since the 1980s, to run again.
The government says he is 73 but the opposition has said he is lying about this and is actually five years older.
