About 90 non-government organisations have opposed a proposal in the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2005, to lift presidential term limits. The NGOs are under an umbrella body called the Coalition for Constitutional Amendments. “Lifting term limits is to ignore the very lessons we claim to have learnt,” the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Network, Mr Martin Masiga (picture), also co-ordinating the Uganda Human Rights House Project, told journalists at Collin Hotel yesterday. (7-MAR-05)

This article was written by Emma Mutaizibwa for Friday´s edition of the independent Ugandan daily the Monitor. It has been edited for republication here. 

“It is to ignore the lives lost and persons displaced through misrule,” Masiga added. Members of leading NGOs, including the Human Rights Network, Anti-Corruption Coalition, Uganda Women?s Network, and Action for Development attended the press conference. The NGO consortium was scheduled to present their views to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee yesterday. They had just completed a two-day workshop on the Constitution Amendment Bill. Masiga predicted a catastrophe if term limits were lifted to allow a president to rule infinitely.

-L´Etat, c´est moi
“Power that is unchecked is fatal,” Masiga explained. He said the turbulent past that the country experienced was a result of leaders who were obsessed with power and wanted to rule for life. The 1995 Constitution gives a president a maximum of two five-year terms. Critics claim the Constitution Amendment Bill is designed to allow President Yoweri Museveni to cling to power. Museveni´s final term expires in 2006. Masiga said Parliament should only deal with constitutional amendments that are in line with the transition to pluralism. He said the issue of lifting term limits should not arise as a priority during the transition.

-The power of the state must be counter-balanced
On dissolving Parliament, Masiga said this proposal would reduce the power and authority of Parliament and undermine its ability to check the executive. “The objective of building a strong democracy can only be achieved by counter-balancing the powers of the arms of the state,” Masiga said. The NGOs also proposed that the number of Parliament and Cabinet ministers be reduced. Parliament has 304 members and the government has 67 ministers.