Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Don Wanyama has lashed at Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze and other legislators who have declared intentions of stepping down in 2021 when their earlier tenure expires.
Early this week, MP Nambooze said that she will retire in May 2021, should President Museveni assent to the Age Limit Bill and declare that the term of office for current MPs has been extended by two years, saying that the people of Mukono sent her to Parliament for 5 years.
Her remarks came before news filtered in that the President signed the Bill on December 27, a week after it was passed in Parliament.
However, Wanyama has had no kind words for Nambooze, other legislators and local government leaders, projecting a possible by-election should they resign in 2021.
“To Opposition MPs & LC5 Chairpersons claiming to be unhappy with the 7-year term given to them, it is simple. Serve your 5 years and step down thereafter to trigger a by-election. Stop fooling us,” Wanyama tweeted.
Parliament voted in support of the Bill on December 20, 2017 amidst strong criticism from the opposition and a section of Ugandans with many threatening to put up a legal challenge should the President sign it into law.
Some of they key clauses in the Bill included repealing the maximum presidential age limit cap (75) from the constitution, revising the lowest cap from age 35 to 18 and extending the tenure of Parliament and local government leaders from 5 to 7 years.
The law also extended the period to organize fresh polls upon nullification of elections by Supreme Court to 60 days and restored Presidential term limits into the supreme law.
Now that the Bill is law of the land, only time will tell whether Nambooze and her like minded leaders will stand up to their words and throw in the towel come 2021.