The U.S. Constitution has prohibited U.S. presidents from being elected for more than two terms saying term limits encourage fresh ideas and guard against any single leader becoming indispensable.
some leaders have argued that term limits encourage fresh faces to run for office, bringing new ideas and goals to the table
In Uganda, some leaders have also argued that term limits encourage fresh faces to run for office, bringing new ideas and goals to the table. With fresh outlooks and ideas, comes better incentives.
This comes as the Kalangala District speaker Valerian Ssenabulya contests against the amendment of the Constitution to institute a two-term limit for Members of Parliament and Local Council leaders.
He argues that, “When we get a different breed of leaders periodically, we gain new ideas and the skills of different talented people instead of sticking to just a few individuals all the time,” quoted by Daily Monitor.
A group of Members of Parliament (MPs) are up-to-date seeking for restoration of presidential term limits. Last year, the MPs met with the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga and urged her for need to restore term limits into the Constitution because it would, “help leadership and authority rotate amongst people and improves on the system of checks and balances and counteract the primordial mentality of holding power in perpetuity and eventually eliminates the prospects of a life presidency.”
Also a survey carried out last year on restoration of presidential term limits, commissioned by Daily Monitor and the Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform, showed that 77 per cent of Ugandans want presidential term limits that were scrapped from the Constitution in 2005 restored.
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The poll asked, “Should term limits be reinstated”, 77 per cent of the 2,142 respondents sampled answered “yes” with the other 23 per cent responding in the negative.
Uganda previously had a constitutional limit in place, allowing a maximum term of office of ten years (two five-year terms), until 2005, when the Parliament voted to scrap it off as a constitutional amendment. This was one year before President Museveni served out his second elective term in office. The scrapping off of term limits gave the President Museveni the window to contest for a third term in 2006 and in 2011 he again won a fourth elective term.
However, in 2012, the Western Youth MP Gerald Karuhanga , presented a motion on the restoration of term limits
Although, the quest for the restoration of presidential term limits in the 1995 Constitution has since gained momentum in Parliament, there are some who oppose it.
Those who oppose the measure to impose a presidential term limit see it as a detrimental exercise without any upside. They argue that if the measure comes into effect, it will deprive the country of visionary leaders. They further argue that there is no need for re-instituting the term limit, as the public can always exercise its rights at the ballot box to unseat an incumbent President.
Chapter 7 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, under Article 105 talks about the Terms and Conditions of service of the president.
Article 105, clause (1) reads that; A person elected President under this Constitution shall, subject to clause (3) of this article, hold office for a term of five years.
Clause (2) reads; A person shall not be elected under this Constitution to hold office as president for more than two terms as prescribed by this article.
Clause (3) reads; The office of President shall become vacant –
- On the expiration of the period specified in this article; or
- If the incumbent dies or resigns or ceases to hold office under article 107 of this Constitution
US Constitution
The U.S. Constitution has prohibited U.S. presidents from being elected to more than two terms saying term limits encourage fresh ideas and guard against any single leader becoming indispensable.
They argue that the presidency, is a job and not a career.
However critics of presidential term limits see this as limiting the will of voters who might want to keep a president in office and as weakening second-term presidents by making them “lame ducks.”
This puts the hopes of President Barack Obama for the fourth term on halt, although he is not running for re-election in 2016.
QN: Are you for or against presidential term limits and why?
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