As opposition members of parliament continue with consultations on the age limit bill, President Yoweri Museveni's revelation on Friday that he supported the age limit bill was the climax to a badly kept secret about the move engineered by Igara West Member of Parliament, Raphael Magyezi.
Museveni, while meeting the ruling NRM party caucus, told the legislators that he was indeed in support of cabinet which gave MP Magyezi a go ahead to table a private member's bill seeking repeal Article 102(b) of the constitution.
Museveni reportedly talked tough, asking those opposed to the Magyezi Bill to walk out of the meeting and warning those that stayed to either endorse the bill or follow their "rebel" colleagues.
Article 102(b) bars anyone below 35 and above 75 years of age to hold the office of President. Magyezi's bill seeks to remove the caps with many observers saying it is meant to open the door for President Museveni who will be above 75 in 2021.
It is the speed at which the Raphael Magyezi's Bill has moved through parliament with full support from cabinet, a rare thing for private member's bill that has raised questions whether it was initiated by him.
Until Friday, when he finally opened up, he had on several occasions appeared to distance himself from the debate leading up to the controversial tabling of the bill in parliament last month.
At least 24 of the MPs opposed to the bill were arrested inside the Parliament Chambers, when security forces raided the Chambers to enforce a suspension ordered by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga. Shortly after, Magyezi moved the motion followed by tabling of the bill five days later.
Museveni had described the discussion as "diversionary" and those involved in it as "idle". But sections within the ruling NRM party, the Opposition, civil society and religious leaders always suspected that Magyezi may have been used as a proxy to initiate the bill that seeks to lift the presidential age limit caps from the Constitution.
Questions also emerged over why cabinet resolved to back Magyezi to table a private member's bill rather than tabling a government bill which Justice Minister Kahinda Otafiire had promised to table. Just a day before security forces raided parliament on September 27 and forcefully evicted the suspended MPs, Busiro East MP Medard Sseggona accused Otafiire of abdicating his responsibility and therefore causing a crisis.
Kalungu West MP Joseph Sewungu, an opponent of the age limit bill notes that under parliament's rules of procedure, Magyezi's bill is a private member's bill but in reality, it is a government bill. He says that Magyezi had the full backing of President Museveni.
Sewungu questions how the bill was fast-tracked through the legislative process; gazetted tabled on the floor of parliament for first reading. According to parliament rules of procedure, an MP is provided 45 days from the day he or she presents a motion and granted leave to present a bill on any matter.
Following the approval of a motion seeking to present a bill under Rule 106, Magyezi was granted leave of parliament on September 27. He only needed five of the 45 days to prepare the bill and table it on October 3.
