Charity Ahimbisibwe, the AG National Coordinator for Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democratic in Uganda (CCEDU) the country’s founding civil society organisation that focusses on elections observation has said that President Yoweri Museveni might be forced to relinquish power to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga should there be no elections in expiry of his current mandate.
She was responding to the remarks by President Museveni over the possibility of postponing elections next year where he said actions would only take place if by June or July, the country will have been cleared of Coronavirus.
Quoting article 105 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, the Woman at the helm of the most influential election monitoring organisation in the country stressed that should the President’s term in office elapse in May next year without elections being held, it would pave way for a constitutional crisis.
Charity goes ahead to explain the possible options available for the President in the event that there are no election by the end of his current mandate. She says the first would be the declaration of a state of emergency under Article 77(4) where Parliament would be engaged to vote on the matter and vote in favor of an extension for not more than six months at ago.
In the event that Parliament votes in favor of an extension according to her, then the President would be obliged to vacate Office and hand over to the Speaker of Parliament who becomes the President untill when elections are held.
With President Museveni coming out to explicitly emphasise he is still fit to run the affairs of the Country in his recent interview with NBS’ Cannary Mugume, Ahimbisibwe doesn’t see any likelihood of there being no elections next year since it would mean handing over power to the speaker which she thinks Museveni might not be ready for.
The articles are 105 1 expiry of the term of presidency. Article 110 (1) explains state of emergency. Article 77(4)gives guidance on how the extension happens.
So does article 109(9) and 109(2). Generally the constitution envisages a country without a president but never a country without a parliament.
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