KAMPALA–The NRM MPs opposed to the lifting of the age limit have castigated the president for responding to their letter in an insulting and intimidating manner.
President Museveni in a letter dated November 7 attacked the MPs for talking negatively about the age limit proposal and yet they never contributed to the liberation of the country but continue to benefit economically from it, he went on to refer to their actions as parasitism.
His letter was in response to an earlier letter that nine NRM MPs wrote to the president on October 14, asking him to allow the NRM party freely and openly debate the age limit bill through the existing party structures.
Today the rebel MPs have called out the president for refusing to allow open debate and freedom of expression and instead responding to their letter with threats.
“We call this parasitism and that parasitism will be resisted and defeated.” Concludes Museveni’s reply to the MPs.
The Kassanda North MP has told journalists today that this is an intimidating strategy. He vowed that the age limit bill will be defeated despite Museveni’s threats.
“As you are saying that you will defeat us we are promising you that we are going to defeat you here on the floor of parliament as we are voting because I am sure that very many huge numbers of MPs who consulted their members are saying no as we speak,” Nsamba said in a direct message to the President.
The other MPs present today to brief journalists were Monica Amoding, Theodore Sekikubo, Barnabas Tinkasimire, John Baptist Nambetsye and James Kaberuka, they were joined by Nabillah Sempala and Gerald Karuhanga.
The MPs have taken exception to being called parasites by the president and have remarked that he is the one who exhibits characters of a parasite owing to his policies that have seen billions of shillings siphoned by cronies and relatives.
“He is the parasite in this country he ate up all Uganda hotels….all of them they sold to relatives, Uganda airlines was sold to Kutesa…..they are the biggest land owners people who didn’t even have a spoon of land,” Buyaga west MP Barnabas Tinkasimire stated.
The MPs further accuse the President of ignoring the salient issues in the letter that they wrote to him. Nsamba says that their request for the president to reveal to the country a transparent transition and succession plan has been rebuffed.
Nsamba notes that instead of convening the party structures to openly debate the Magyezi bill the president instead chose to order both the CEC and NEC to popularize the bill and went ahead to splash money to ensure that the bill is well received.
“We want to thank you for inviting the CEC and the NEC but what you did when you met them by asking them to go and popularize wasn’t the reason why we wrote this letter,” Nsamba addressed himself to President Museveni.
The NRM party has since moved to prioritize the constitutional amendment No.2 Bill 2017 to ensure that the amendment is fast-tracked through the legislative process, this was exhibited in the speedy manner in which the mover of the bill Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi was facilitated to move his motion to seek leave and present the bill as well as the record time within which he was availed with a certificate of financial implication from the finance ministry.
The bill seeks to do away with the lower and upper age limits of 35 and 75 years respectively for presidential candidates.
The bill once passed will effectively remove the last obstacle to what has been termed by critics as President Museveni’s ‘life presidency project’.
