(Reuters) - Lawmakers brawled in Uganda’s parliament for a
second day running on Wednesday over a fiercely disputed move to change the
constitution to let long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni run for re-election
after age 75.
MPs exchanged blows and kicks, with some using microphone
stands as crude weapons in the melee, and at least two female lawmakers were
carried out of the chamber after collapsing, a Reuters journalist on the scene
said.
At least 25 MPs opposed to the proposed constitutional
amendment to prolong Museveni’s tenure were forcibly ejected on orders of the
speaker for involvement in fighting on Tuesday. All other like-minded MPs then
walked out.
After calm returned, ruling party MP Raphael Magyezi introduced
the contested motion authorizing parliament to draft and present a bill that
would lift the constitution’s age cap on presidential candidates.
The motion passed, parliament communications director Chris
Obore told Reuters, adding that Magyezi would have about a month to submit the
bill to a first reading in the House.
Under the existing constitution, eligibility to stand as a
presidential candidate in the East African country has an age ceiling of 75.
That makes Museveni, 73, in power since 1986 and
increasingly accused of authoritarianism and a failure to curb corruption,
unqualified to seek re-election at the next polls in 2021. Removing the age cap
would erase that barrier.
The proposal, echoing steps by other veteran African
leaders to void legal limits on their rule, has stirred widespread resistance
from rights activists, opposition parties, religious leaders and even some
members of Museveni’s party.
In a notice on Wednesday, the Uganda Communications
Commission said radio and television stations should stop live broadcasts of
events that “are inciting the public, discriminating, stirring up hatred,
promoting a culture of violence ... and are likely to create public
insecurity.”
No station aired Wednesday’s proceedings, but some posted
clips of the brawls on their Twitter feeds.
Uganda’s two major privately owned TV stations, including a
local unit of Kenya’s Nation Media Group, and some radio stations carried
Tuesday’s parliamentary session live.
Critics said the authorities’ action to ban live broadcasts
underscored a crackdown on anyone questioning the planned constitutional
amendment.
Since last week, when a motion to kick-start the amendment
process was supposed to be read but never made it to the floor, both police and
military personnel have been deployed around the parliament and many parts of
the capital.
Protests by students and opposition activists and
supporters in Kampala against the amendment, sometimes broadcast live, have
been put down with tear gas and arrests of scores of people.
Media in Uganda routinely complain of harassment by
security personnel. Journalists say they have been beaten, detained or their
equipment damaged or confiscated during coverage of anti-government demonstrations.
On Tuesday, anti-government protests also occurred in other
parts of the country, including in the northern town of Lira. Three local
journalists there were arrested as they covered the protests, according to
Hudson Apunyo, an official in a journalists’ association in the area.
Robert Ssempala, national coordinator for Human Rights
Network for Journalists-Uganda, said banning live broadcasts was “to shut out
Ugandans and keep them in the dark on the age limit debate” after the measure
met broad resistance.
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