Mabirizi petitions speaker over selfish plans to extend MPs term to 7 years

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | City lawyer Male Mabirizi has petitioned the Speaker of Parliament over what he calls an illegal plan to extend the life of the 11th Parliament from five to seven years.

The petition comes at the back drop of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee mooting an idea which seeks to expand terms of office for all elective positions. The suggestion was made by the committee in its reports regarding the proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill.

In the petition dated February 11, Mabirizi argues that it would be illegal for Parliament to pass a law which alters a decision of court’s judgment.

“No rocket science is needed to see that any re-tabling of extension of life of the 11th Parliament to seven years after elections violates not only Article 92 of the Constitution but several other articles,” Mabirizi’s petition reads in part.

The quoted Article 92 of the 1995 Constitution says that Parliament shall not pass any law to alter the decision or judgment of court.

Mabirizi’s argument in the matter and citation of this specific article stems from the fact that the Constitutional Court in 2018 during the famous ‘togikwato’ case annulled an extension of Parliament’s term from five to seven years.

The amendment had been passed by Parliament in the 2017 Constitution Amendment that saw the lower and upper presidential age limits lifted. Five petitions, one by Mabirizi himself had been filed before the Constitutional Court over the issue at hand among others.

A panel of five justices argued that Parliament’s extension of its tenure by two years was in breach of and undermined the express powers of the people.

Mabirizi says that even before that ink could dry and before parliament has paid his disbursements resulting from the 2018 judgment, the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee is already in the same crafty manner, re-introducing it in a report.

The maverick lawyer however warns that Parliament’s continued selfishness may provoke Ugandans to cut short their illegal plans because the People of Uganda in exercise of their sovereign power can do virtually anything they wish to preserve the constitution.

******

URN