Independent MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has challenged MPs affiliated to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) to think of their nation and children before committing to age limit removal.
On Tuesday, NRM MPs led by Igara West’s Raphael Magyezi and a section of ministers resolved to table a private members bill for the removal of article 102b that bars all below age 35 and over 75 from standing for president.
Three-decade president Yoweri Musevi will be over 75 when Uganda next goes to the polls in 2021.
Once the age limit clause is deleted, Museveni will rule for life.
But in the following letter, Bobi Wine has warned NRM MPs against betraying their nation and sacrificing at the altar of money:
“Yesterday the 12th day of September 2017 was a very sad day in the leadership of our country. Yet again, some of my colleague Members of Parliament who belong to the NRM Party did the most dishonorable and unpatriotic thing. They passed a resolution to remove the Presidential age-limits from the Constitution of Uganda so that President M7 can become life President.
They did this at a time when our nation has been bleeding for the past 31 years. Our country’s former glory is all gone. Corruption rates are alarming.
Service delivery is at the worst. Mothers die giving birth. Unexplained murders are everywhere and the judiciary is a mockery.
Our children face an uncertain future where unemployment is the order of the day. The national debt has turned us into slaves and the gun has become the master. The one time pearl of Africa is now a laughing stock among nations.
All public assets have been sold and as if that’s not enough to satisfy their appetites, after selling almost all public properties, the government now wants to take people’s private land!
In response to all this, your elected members of parliament think that the best response to this crisis and national shame is to remove age limits and continue with the same nonsense. Other than think of rescuing Uganda from this mess, they are asking that Uganda sinks even deeper!
Well my message to them is this;
You are traitors. You have betrayed your country and you have sold your conscience for cheap. History will judge you very harshly. You should remember that it is your children and your children’s children who will have to inherit this mess that you are creating.
You should individually reflect on what you have just done. Remember that there will be a time when you must account for this nonsense. Yesterday those of you who put up hands to support that stupid resolution, you have put your names on the national wall of SHAME.
You should think about how you would love to be remembered- whether as men and women who loved and served their nation, or as people who thought about only themselves.
You should also remember that you swore an oath to bear true allegiance to the Republic of Uganda and uphold its Constitution. So by passing this resolution, you did exact my the opposite of what you swore to do.
Well, the good news is that there is still time for you to withdraw your endorsements before it is too late!
And before I forget, I want to thank those few patriotic NRM Mps who rejected the madness of raping the constitution. You’re heroes and please maintain your stand. Do not bow down to pressure because your voters are watching you and they will be rewarding you.”
