Ugandan Lawmakers Brawled Over The President’s Effort To Extend His 31-year Rule

Ugandan lawmakers came to blows as members

of the opposition party tried to stop the ruling

body from passing a law removing the age cap

from the presidency.

The fight started after some opposition

ministers accused ruling party members of

carrying guns, sparking a fierce argument which

turned into pushing and eventually brawling.

Punches and chairs were thrown as ministers

fought on tables and across rows of seats

before plainclothes secret service agents hauled

members of the opposition from the main

chamber of parliament, located in Kampala.

After most of her ministers were hauled away

by force, the leader of the opposition led the

rest of her members in a walk-out, accusing the

majority party of intimidation., Dailymail reports.

Ugandan law currently bans anyone over the

aged of 75 from holding the country’s highest

office, meaning current President Yoweri

Museveni, 73, is ineligible to run in the next

election.

But his party, the National Resistance

Movement, has now brought a bill to scrap that

law. Maximum term limits have already been

removed, meaning the new rule change would

allow leaders to rule indefinitely.

The National Resistance Movement holds a

massive majority in parliament, meaning the law

is almost certain to pass when it goes to a

vote.

Opposition leaders say Museveni, who has ruled

the country since helping to overthrow previous

Ugandan leaders Ugandan leaders Idi Amin and

Milton Obote, is attempting to establish a rule

for life.

Musaveni has so far refused to be drawn on

whether or not he wants to run at the next

election, saying that the issue is ‘not important’.

Police have violently broken up street

demonstrations protesting the effort to amend

the constitution, arresting scores since the past

week.

Erias Lukwago, the mayor of the Ugandan

capital of Kampala, told reporters he is getting

medical care after police officers allegedly

‘squeezed’ his genitals while arresting him

outside his house last week.

Museveni, a U.S. ally on regional security, took

power by force in 1986 and was re-elected last

year in a poll marred by allegations of fraud and

voter intimidation.

Although Museveni warned in the past that

Africa’s problem was leaders ‘who want to

overstay in power,’ he has since said he was

speaking about leaders who were not elected.

Uganda has never seen a peaceful change of

power since independence from Britain in 1962.