It is widely believed that the presidential age limit in Uganda’s 1995 Constitution was inserted to prevent then-exiled former two-time president Milton Obote from returning to power.
Obote, who by then was exiled in Zambia, was 70 years old, and political commentators argue that Mr Museveni’s political manoeuvring aimed at constitutionally locking out the man he feared most, who had previously held the office of the president twice.
‘If the age limit was to prevent Milton Obote from vying for power, the same should be applied to President Museveni,’ the late former Democratic Party president, Paul Ssemogerere, said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Monitor in September 2017.
President Obote, who at independence was the prime minister, rose to the presidency after abrogating the 1966 Constitution, only to be overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971.
He made a comeback through the disputed 1980 general elections and ruled for five years, only to be removed again by a coup d’état in 1985 led by Gen Tito Okello. Okello, in turn, was toppled about a year later by President Museveni.
The threat of Obote making a third attempt at the presidency was real. While in Zambia, he repeatedly hinted at ambitions to reclaim the country’s top office. He also ran the then-powerful Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party he had founded, from exile, which reportedly gave Mr Museveni sleepless nights.
During the drafting of the 1995 Constitution, Ssemogerere believed that the late Noble Mayombo, one of Mr Museveni’s blue-eyed confidants in the Constituent Assembly (CA), pushed to have the age limit capped at 75, though many of his colleagues did not mind the move.
According to Ssemogerere, who was also a member of the CA, the two five-year presidential term limits included in the 1995 Constitution were ‘sufficient.’ Likewise, Mr Dan Wandera Ogalo, another CA delegate, shared similar reflections.
‘We (CA delegates) thought that one was really not able to execute the duties of such a heavy office, hence putting the age cap at 75. But underneath that, there were rumours that, you see, Obote might come back a second time,’ Counsel Ogalo recalls.
However, in the 2020/2021 election cycle, the last safeguard in the 1995 Constitution-the presidential age cap of 75-was controversially amended and removed amidst fierce clashes between Members of Parliament who were ‘opposed’ and those who were ‘in favour.’
The debate around the so-called ‘Togikwatako’ amendment began in 2017, with Mr Raphael Magyezi, now Local Government minister, being the public face of the campaign to amend and remove Article 102(b). Mr Magyezi was tasked with drafting the 2017 Amendment Bill, which was tabled in Parliament amid controversy.
Opposition MPs opposed the Bill, arguing it was calculated to benefit only one person: President Museveni. At 73 years old in 2017, Museveni would have been ineligible to contest the 2021 election under the existing age limit, making the amendment essential to his political ambitions.
The constitutional age cap at the time had set a maximum of 75 years. The only legal path for Mr Museveni to remain eligible was to remove this safeguard entirely.
Chaos in Parliament
In September 2017, Parliament descended into chaos for two consecutive days. Lawmakers were sharply divided, and the sessions turned violent. Some MPs engaged in fistfights, while others wielded microphone stands as weapons.
The Special Forces Command (SFC), a specialised arm of the UPDF that protects the President and sensitive government installations, intervened, storming the August House during one heated session. About 10 Opposition MPs, including Ms Betty Nambooze (Mukono Municipality) and Mr Francis Zaake (Mityana Municipality), were arrested and whisked away by plain-clothed security personnel to unknown locations. Some MPs were hospitalised following the scuffles.
Despite the tumult, Parliament passed the age limit amendment Bill on December 20, 2017, effectively providing Mr Museveni with an early Christmas gift.
The Opposition mounted legal challenges. By early 2018, five constitutional petitions were filed before the Constitutional Court. These included Uganda Law Society vs AG, Karuhanga Kafureeka vs AG, Male Mabirizi Kiwanuka vs AG, Prosper Busingye vs AG, and Abaime Jonathan vs AG. The petitioners were six Opposition MPs led by then Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Ms Winnie Kiiza.
Other opposition MPs involved included Ibrahim Ssemujju (Kiira Municipality), Mubaraka Munyagwa, Allan Ssewanyana, Gerald Karuhanga, and Jonathan Odur. The MPs sought to have the amendment annulled, citing unconstitutional procedures, violence, and intimidation during its passage.
Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, representing the six Opposition MPs, argued during the hearings that the amendment removed the only remaining safety net of the age limit, contravening the preamble of the 1995 Constitution. ‘The framers of the 1995 Constitution had in mind Uganda’s dark past, and that is why they included in their preamble ‘never again,” Mr Lukwago said.
‘The intention of this constitutional amendment was very clear: it was going to benefit one person by paving the way for President Museveni to stand again in the next election since he would have been ineligible to stand again as he would be above 75 years of age,’ Lukwago added.
The petitioners also argued that the amendment process was marred by violence, intimidation, human rights abuses, and general mayhem, including assaults on MPs by security personnel.
Regrets
Prof Frederick Ssempebwa shared similar views, emphasising that the term limit was more important than the age cap. He noted that Africans historically lived poorer and more fragile lives, making a strict age limit sensible.
‘People at 75 were susceptible to many ailments and might not be able to control governments,’ he said. Prof Ssempebwa, a former minister in Museveni’s Cabinet and member of the Justice Benjamin Odoki Commission, argued that life expectancy has improved.
‘At the time we were discussing, to be 75 or 80 years old, people would already be frail. Constitutions are changed because of new developments. To me, if you have term limits, the age limit doesn’t matter,’ he said.
‘If someone leaves power at around 70, and has a term limit of 10 years, at 80 he is off. There is no need to endure the indignities as in Zimbabwe under Mugabe, where leaders slept through Cabinet meetings, which was what we intended to avoid,’ he added.
Ssemogerere had argued that since Museveni used the 75-year age cap against Obote, he should have applied the same standard to himself and not pushed for the scrapping of the clause. If Museveni is re-elected in the 2026 presidential race, he could have ruled Uganda for 45 uninterrupted years.
At 81, a further five-year term (2026-2031) would make him one of Africa’s oldest and longest-serving presidents, alongside Cameroon’s Paul Biya (91), Namibia’s Nangolo Mbumba (82), Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara (82), Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Nguema Mbasogo (82), Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa (82), and Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo (80).
In a 2016 NTV-Uganda interview, Museveni said he would not seek office after 75, arguing that younger leaders were more active. ‘I know some leaders who have been leading even beyond 75. But I think if you want very active leaders, it should be the ones below 75 years,’ Museveni said in the interview at that time.
Timeline of Age Limit Debates
* 1966: Milton Obote abrogates the 1962 Constitution and becomes president.
* 1971: Obote overthrown by Idi Amin in a military coup.
* 1980: Obote returns to power after disputed elections, ruling for five years.
* 1985: Obote ousted again by Gen Tito Okello; Museveni seizes power a year later.
* 1995: Uganda’s new constitution sets presidential age limit at 75 and a two-term limit.
* 2017: Parliament passes controversial amendment removing the 75-year age limit, amid Opposition protests and scuffles in the House.
* 2018: Constitutional petitions filed against the age limit removal; courts uphold the amendment.
* 2021-2026: President Museveni, now over 80, remains eligible to run, changing the political landscape for decades.