By Kevin Patrice
With uncertainties over the possibility of holding elections next year gaining momentum following President Museveni’s remarks that the Electoral Commission would only organise elections if the country would by June or July be covid free, attention has been turned to the legal and Constitutional implication which calls for Museveni to step aside and let Kadaga take charge as president.
According to Ms Charity Ahimbisibwe- the National Coordinator of CCEDU, the Ugandan Constitution of 1995 clearly leaves Museveni with no option but to step aside and hand over office to Speaker Kadaga who should be in charge of state affairs until when the country holds elections.
The above however only happens in emergency situations where Parliament votes I favor of extending the tenure of parliament for no more than six months at a time. Should there be a two thirds vote in favor of an extension, then the office of the president and Vice President ceases to be opperational and the third in line is the Speaker.
The debate however has been wether Museveni would indeed accept to l t the woman from Kamuli to have a taste of the state power which he has monopolised for the last three and a half decades.
With the former NRA combat chief coming out last week in an interview with NBS’ Canery Tugume to stress that he still felt very fit to continue leading the Country, it was a clear implication that the possibility of losing power to whomever is just but a dream.
The recent hostilities by Kadaga’s Legislature towards Museveni’s executive where the Speaker accused the President of interfering with the business of Parliament, Museveni must have learnt that Kadaga would only be an ally now with some limited powers than she would if she became the President.
The motion of displeasure introduced on the floor of Parliament the other week was widely interpreted by political analysts as the beginning of a secret plan to have the executive execute a coup against President Museveni.
Museveni was however spot on and mobilised his loyal MPs to root for a motion in praise of his contribution towards the fight against Coronavirus to the disappointment of Kadaga.
On Wednesday 13, Museveni issued a lengthy fire hot dossier where he stressingly reiterated his early stance on the contravasial 20 million cash allocated to MPs which he said was morally and legally reprehensible. In the dosier, Museveni bows to punish whoever defied his orders on handing over the said mon y to the district task forces and threatened culprits with apprehension.
The feud above therefore rules out the possibility of a possible power handover from Museveni to Kadaga.
The question which will be answerwd bellow is which options would be available for Museveni I the event that the current pandemic doesn’t allow conducting elections.
The first option would be to ove throw the Parliament and run the country on a military rule. This would give him unchecked authority to decide on when to return democracy to the citizen.
This option however might not work well for Museveni who has challengingly spent the last 35years building Democratic institutions. The act would undo his life’s greatest achievement which he would certainly to guard jealously.
The second and most viable option is to take the riskand go on with the elections and handle the consequences later. This has already been done in North Korea and Iran, whereas preparations I both Tanzania and Burundi is ongoing for the forthcoming elections later this year.
With the two options available for Museveni therefore, Museveni would never let the unfriendly Kadaga to take the reign for even a single day
About Author
