Ugandan campaigners against scrapping presidential age-limit arrested

Some 14 youth activists have been arrested in the Ugandan capital Kampala while campaigning against the proposed scrapping of presidential age-limit that will allow President Yoweri Museveni to contest in the next elections.

According to local media portal Daily Monitor, the police bundled the activists into a truck on Monday morning and sent them to the Central Police Station where they were detained.

The police did not say the reason they arrested the activists who were dressed in all-white, sharing fliers against the proposed constitutional amendment.

This is not the first time campaigners against the amendment have been arrested.

In July, some youth opposition groups launched a similar campaign and were arrested in the process for unlawful assembly.

In 2005, a constitutional amendment was made removing the two-term limit for the presidency to allow Museveni to contest for elections.

The age limit for a candidate to stand for president is currently 75 and President Yoweri Museveni, who is now 73, will be two years older than the limit in the 2021 election.

Uganda’s deputy attorney general, Mwesigwa Rukutana had denied that the proposal to scrap the age limit is a ploy to allow Museveni to stay on as president.

Last week, Members of Parliament of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and some independent MPs passed a resolution to initiate the process of scrapping the presidential age limit currently pegged at 75.