Opposition MP wants 10 years for president

By Sylvia Nankya

ARUU County MP Odonga Otto is proposing a 10-year term of office for all elective political posts in the country.Otto wants the provision to apply to the President, Members of Parliament and local government leaders.

Otto said he would lobby the opposition to endorse a pending motion by Kabula County MP James Kakooza who recently suggested the extension of the term of office of the president to even years.

According to Kakooza, a five-year term is too short for any leader to accomplish his programmes since leaders spend about half of their term holding consultative meetings and campaigning.

Otto said he would lobby the opposition to move an amendment to Kakooza’s motion to have the extension of the presidential term moved to 10 years. But the president would only serve one 10-year term as a condition.

However, the proposal will require a constitutional amendment since Article 105(1) of the Constitution says a president shall hold office for a term of five years.

The article is one of the constitutional provisions that are entrenched and requires a referendum to be amended in accordance with Article 260.

Article 105(2) initially provided for a maximum of two five-year terms for a president, but was amended in 2005 to allow a president to serve unlimited terms.

“We need to ensure that anyone who becomes the President of this country will rule for 10 years,” Otto told journalists at Parliament.

He said the opposition was also considering a proposal for a two-term limit for members of Parliament and district chairpersons.

Otto said this would not only save the country billions of shillings spent on the regular elections, but would also limit the number of people who have turned Parliament and district leadership into a career.

He argued that with the current set up, many leaders do not concentrate because they keep on running to the constituencies to safeguard their seats for another five years.

“We have just finished elections and my opponent is already consulting for 2016. what kind of life is that?” Otto asked.

“Such a proposal is meant to bring a little more peace in this country. I only need to convince members of the NRM to accept that we have term limits. Extending the term to 10 years without introducing term limits will put us in an unfortunate situation,” he added.

The debate on the presidential term limits is raging on.