Uganda Police Spokesperson Asan Kasingye has confirmed the arrest of 56 activists that were reportedly nabbed “holding illegal assemblies”.

In a statement issued Thursday, Kasingye said the 56 are currently being detained at Nalufenya.

Of the 56, some 24 were picked from Magere; 14 from St Kizito kiri; 13 from Gayaza; and five from Nabutaka. All these places are located in Wakiso district’s Kyadondo East Constituency.

Kasingye said the assemblies flouted section 55 of the Penal Code Act (PCA).

Reports of a plot to remove the presidential age limit provided for in article 102b of the Constitution have sparked off debate and pockets of protests, largely within the capital Kampala.

If the age limit is lifted, Uganda’s three-decade ruler Yoweri Museveni will be eligible for reelection when Uganda next goes to the polls in 2021.

Activists also fear that Museveni could also cling on power for life.

Born in 1944, Museveni will be over 75 in 2021 and would be ineligible to stand for president.

Some members of his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) have launched a campaign to popularise the age limit removal and Museveni’s reelection bid.

But Museveni, president since 1986 when he took power following a five-year guerrilla war, said Wednesday that there was no proposal to lift the age limit, terming the debate on the same as “nonsense” and a waste of time.