The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | URN & AFP | The Deputy Attorney General, Mwesigwa Rukutana has said Ugandans have every reason to celebrate the ruling of the Supreme Court on the Age Limit appeal.
Rukutana declared the verdict “a big win for Uganda”. “We are elated. This is a sign of how democracy has taken root in our country,” he told AFP
By a majority decision of 4-3 the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Constitutional Court ruling that backed the amendment of the constitution, that scrapped the 75-year age limit for presidential candidates.
“This appeal therefore fails,” Chief Justice Bart Katureebe declared in handing down the court’s majority 4-3 verdict.
The decision allows Museveni — who has ruled Uganda since seizing power at the head of a rebel army in 1986 — to seek re-election in polls due in 2021.
Rukutana described the judgment as ‘the most reasoned, well-balanced’ and that the justices expressed their views which climaxed into to delivery of justice.
Democratic Party President Norbert Mao said they do not accept the legitimacy of the judgment on account of the clash between the evidence and the final conclusions by the judges.
Mao said the final court in this matter will be the citizens who will take back their country arguing that the responsible bodies won’t deliver justice.
“Are we going to make it a habit for private members of parliament acting on impulse and inducements of a dictator who wants to rule for life? Is that going to be the way we amend a document as important as the constitution of Uganda?” Mao asked.
Adding that; “But like I said, we have not lost hope. The final court is the court of the people. So from now on, it is People Power. That’s all we have.”
