Minister Muyingo plays hide and seek over age limit

At least 38 residents of Kamira sub county in Luweero have petitioned their area MP, John Crysostom Muyingo protesting what they call discriminative consultative meetings on the proposed removal of the presidential age limit.

Muyingo, who also doubles as the minister of state for Higher Education, is currently involved in consultative meetings on the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) bill 2017, which seeks to scrap article 102 (b) of the constitution, which caps the president’s age at 75 years.

As a part of his consultations, Muyingo is only meeting National Resistance Movement party leaders at the various sub county headquarters.

Recently, the minister claimed that most of the people he had consulted had asked him to vote in favour of scrapping article 102 (b) from the constitution.

However, residents of Nambeere, Mazzi and Mabuye parishes in Kamira sub county have criticized Muyingo for holding discriminative consultative meetings, which are not representative of their opinions.

In their October 22 petition addressed to Muyingo, the residents express disappointment accusing the Minister for only inviting NRM leaning LC 1 candidates and few NRM leaders for his consultative meetings.

The lead petitioner, Omar Wamala, a resident of Nabinaka village, says during his campaigns Muyingo was able to traverse the constituency seeking for their votes and wonders why he isn’t doing the same to seek their views on the bill.

Richard Kalyango, a resident of Mazzi village, said many of them don’t understand the benefits of removing the presidential age cap and need an explanation from their area MP to help them make an informed decision, something he isn’t doing.

Other residents questioned why the NRM leaders didn’t seek their opinions before speaking on their behalf.

The petition is copied to the Luweero Woman MP, Lilian Nakate who is accused of conducting similar meetings and the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga.

Over the weekend, a group of youths disrupted a consultative meeting of NRM leaders drawn from the village and sub county levels and led a procession in Kikyusa town to protest the failure by Muyingo to consult them.

They also denounced the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) bill 2017 and warned Muyingo against supporting it.

Led by Hassan Mutesasira, the protesters also warned Muyingo against only consulting NRM party members, saying the proposed Constitutional amendments are not for the Party but the entire country.

When reached on phone, Muyingo said he hadn’t received the petition, but said he would meet the residents if that is their wish. He declined to discuss the position of his electorate on the proposed amendment, saying he was uncomfortable to discuss the matter on phone.