WHO WON THE AGE LIMIT PETITION?

It can be said that Ugandans lost and the President won. Personally, I think that the enlargement of term of office by the Parliament of Uganda – an idea that was not originally part of the initial bill, speaks volumes. Let us also remember that the entire age limit bill was not informed by the 2016 Ugandan Presidential Election petition recommendations by the constitutional court. This begs a question therefore, what inspired this irrational urgency?. That aside, who smuggled in the "2 year extension of tenure section" into the age limit bill itself?. Why have our legislators evolved to become excellent smugglers of unpopular bills under our noses?. The absurdity of this phenomenon is appalling. MPs who constitutionally presented the age limit bill - with a measure of attention to detail, probably to favor one individual over national interests, have ended up sacrificing their careers at the altar of preposterous “altruism”. They accorded the president, a blank cheque pertaining the topmost job in the country.

Even if we totally disregard the spirit behind the "2 Years Extension of Tenure" section, what logical reason existed to warrant such an amendment?. We might have overlooked key events during the age limit consultation campaigns but if we look back and ponder about the chronolgy of the events, do they really add up. For-example, when Members of Parliament returned to the House, shortly after inconclusive and somewhat sham consultations - claiming to have satisfactorily gleaned the electorates’ views on age limit, hadn't truth and honest been seriously eroded?.

What nature of consultations should merit such a sensitive amendment and in any case, when is consultation deemed comprehensive and exhaustive?. These questions are very important because democracy does not come cheap. It costs money and lots of it to that effect. A bill which was first fronted as one with no certificate of financial implication, ended up costing a tax payer approximately UGX13B or more, according to December 24, 2017 Sunday Monitor News Paper. We are yet to know the cost of tussling out the recently concluded Age limit petition in Mbale, and get to know the grand total cost. In the neighboring country Kenya, two elections in 2017 cost the treasury USD 536Million according to this URL http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/01/c_137008890.htm In his book tiled Media Control, Prof. Noam Chomsky asserts, “Alternative conception of democracy is that the public must be barred from management of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled”. While some parts of this statement may not apply to our situation, the alternative democracy concept is alive and well in our politics. While the media did their best to keep the public informed – probably due to private ownership, the legislators – on their part, did not carry out their roles judiciously or even diligently.

When the Kenyan Supreme Court led by Justice David Kenani Maraga, annulled the 2017 presidential elections results on grounds of inconsistencies by the country's electoral commission, the Media fraternity lavished praise on the court for its historic and landmark decision, citing the decision as the first of its kind on the African continent. It seemed that the stage had been set, for African justice system to impartially deliver justice, even when it irks the incumbent. One of Uganda’s Constitutional Court prime moments was the "ruling" to the Age Limit Petition. It remains to be appreciated whether our constitutional court merits the accolades and praise, in the same measure as showered on the Kenyan Supreme Court in the recent past. Whatever the case it may be, one thing remains true, there’s a wave sweeping across the continent – particularly in the East African region, where the incumbents are waking up to the reality, that the Judiciary is steadily slipping out of their grip, and that it still has the capacity to function as intended.

The new breed of African leaders, who in bid of preserving themselves in power, leave being themselves a weakling of a constitution, should not be tolerated. Nations are not built in a day and neither do they crumble in a day. It is a slow fade, ranging from democracy in its purest form, to an alternative democracy and then to a point of no return. It should be clearly put across that a fairly young democracy as our own, is better off led by the will of the people and not otherwise. The Constitution of a Nation without a soul is just a mere paper, the spirit behind the constitution accords it respect and trust from the people it governs.

Martin Meredith in his book titled, “The State of Africa: A History of the Continent since Independence” argues the case of African nation origins as mere colonial boundaries where at one point, the people did not have so much in common to form a national cohesion. What lessons can the African heads of states draw from such history? What makes African democracy count than elsewhere in the world? We are a conglomeration of tribes and ethnicities, and thus our democracy must be cultivated to surpass all undertones along such lines. What makes our democracy fragile is that, it is a hard task to build national consensus and reasonably maintain it using an alternative of democracy. Why do good leaders fail? We know that anything that has a beginning surely must have an end. It is natural and normal for that to happen, save for politics – ever wondered why? Because livelihoods, economy and many other pertinent life factors rotate around leadership.

A World Bank publication, “Can Africa Claim the 21st Century” argues that “A functioning democracy offsets the adverse effects on growth of high ethnic diversity, whereas political rights have little effect on growth in ethnically homogeneous societies”. The same seems to be echoed in Prof. William Easterly’s book, “The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good” that good governance is key as regards poverty alleviation. It is unquestionable, that good governance – of which democracy is a subset, is a vehicle for economic development. I would wish that our legislators appreciate the background and birth of our nations and in so doing, execute their duties with utmost diligence and judiciousness, while fostering a precarious idea. We are all used to the concept of inheritance. We seem to do well with our families when it comes to this issue but miserably fail at it when it comes to national politics. A trail of our decisions extend into the future way past our generation. A poor decision wantonly taken indubitably sets your children and grandchildren’s teeth on edge. I have never understood the kind of impunity, later on, lack of empathy that drives such kind of behavior. No one is perfect and that is a well-established fact, I therefore wonder, why we keep relying on benevolence of a political leader to execute their duties impartially – as if to rid them of their humanity, and elevate them to the same pedestal as God.

One camp might currently be excited now that they have won the battle, but the truth of the matter is a fully fledged war of democracy has just depended and truthfully, democracy seems to have lost. The war was not much about His Excellence the President or MPs of Ugandan Parliament than it was about Democracy. The president has won the battle but democracy war has been set on edge of being lost.