Just a few weeks after DP launched the K’ogikwatako campaign to ensure that the presidential age limit stays in our constitution NRM MPs have shown unprecedented panic by deciding that this contentious issue cannot await the process of a broader consultation. Some people say the whole circus is not motivated by conviction but rather the transactional politics of the day. News broke that some youth where being facilitated to promote the lifting of the age limit.
Not to be outdone, the Commission Agents in the NRM Caucus had to start something to show they are working and thus get State House to loosen the purse strings.
Unfortunately given the stakes, these overzealous MPs may “die twice like charcoal” which dies as the tree is burnt and then again in the stove. The MPs will not get any money and in addition lose their parliamentary seats! Groupthink will not save them.
For such a polarizing issue, you would have expected MPs to take time to feel the pulse of the general population. That they have rushed to judgement shows they are out of touch. If only they knew that the man they are fighting for can actually do without them. Anyway here are reasons why MPs should defend Article 102(b) without fear.
1. Age limit will facilitate peaceful and constitutional transition of power. All Ugandans yearn for change without bloodshed. The age limit is the last remaining bulwark against the ever present temptation to resort to unconstitutional means to bring about change.
2. The presidency is not a career. The age limit keeps fresh ideas and new points of view in the vicinity of public office, it ensure that no individual can focus more on keeping the job than public service. Official decisions and actions will be made more carefully because the office bearer knows that within a definite time he will return to be an ordinary citizen.
3. Age limit controls graft and corruption. A rolling stone gather no moss. Long serving incumbents tend to focus more on simply getting re-elected rather than doing the right thing for the people.
4. It periodically clears the top deck. Age limit clears the ballots after a certain period and allows a new group of potential candidates to make themselves known and to vie for office. In the absence of age limit, many talented potential leaders will simply not contest.
5. The argument that the nation benefits from the experience of a perennial ruler is bogus. In fact, new leaders can benefit from the experience of long serving civil servants. This insulates the state against the fear that new comers lack the experience.
6. It limits chances of state capture by powerful moneyed interests. Government is supposed to serve the public but with time a long serving incumbent becomes a captive.
7. Democracy is about limiting power of individuals. The age limit will encourage us build and prepare potential leaders and establish the fundamentals of public service. It builds institutions and prepares leaders.
8. Scientifically, with advanced age, leaders can simply become fatigued and less energised but the adoring public may just not see what is actually happening because an incumbent has money, name recognition and influence to continue being re-elected.
9. Age limit creates opportunities for fresh faces. Long serving and entrenched incumbents deter opponents who see the virtual futility of mounting a challenge against an incumbent.
10. Age limit will end the era of indefinite presidencies. Only the age limit will remove the fear that there will never be a predetermined end to a single person’s ability to rule for life.
