How age limit was scrapped from Uganda’s constitution

On December 20, 2018, MPs passed a bill to scrap Article 102(b) of the Constitution, enabling people above the age of 18, the age of consent, to contest for the top office in the land. A total of 317 MPs voted in favor, while 97 voted against the bill. The then Igara West MP, Raphael Magezi, now the Minister of Local Government, was behind the drafting and tabling of the Private Member’s Bill entitled the Constitution Amendment Bill 2017. Numerous tactics were used to secure MPs’ support for the bill, one of them being the allocation of millions of shillings to each MP to consult voters on the matter. At the time, President Museveni was 73 years old and would have been ineligible to contest for the presidency in 2021. Sudhir Byaruhanga delves into the details of how the age limit clause was removed from the Constitution.