Prof Kanyeihamba: 2017 is the worst year in Uganda's political history

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Retired former Supreme Court Judge, Prof. George Kanyeihamba has said 2017 will go down as the worst year in the history of Uganda under the leadership of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

According to Prof Kanyeihamba, Ugandans are poorer than before, insecurity is greater than it has ever been and governance has gone to the dogs.

"In relation to constitutionalism, the rule of law and what they used to call democracy - every Ugandan is very embarrassed with the passing of the controversial age limit Bill," said Kanyeihamba while appearing on NBS TV this morning.

He blasted parliament for passing the controversial age limit Bill even when majority of citizens and eminent Ugandans spoke against it.

Findings of a survey by civil society organisations released a few days before parliament passed the bill showed that 85 percent of Ugandans were opposed to the scrapping over the presidential age limit.

The study, titled Citizen's Perceptions on the Proposed Amendment of Article 102(b) of the Constitution was commissioned by Citizens Coalition on Electoral Democracy (CEEDU) and Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform (UGMP).

It sampled 50,429 citizens in 80 constituencies across the country. It covered 22,926 female and 27,503 male respondents.

Prof Kanyeihamba was one of the eminent individuals who appeared before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and appealed to MPs to reject the Bill, saying it had torn Ugandans into pieces.

Kanyeihamba said the Age Limit Bill was passed to benefit the interests of just a few people in leadership positions.

On whether anything can be done to correct the path Uganda has taken, Kanyeihamba, said Ugandans can determine the future of the country under Article 1 of the Constitution that vests all power of governance in the people.