----- Original Message -----
From: "Yoga Adhola" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 9:46 PM
Subject: Wapa warned Museveni over third term bid


> Wapa warned Museveni over third term bid
> By Andrew M. Mwenda
> April 7, 2004
>
> KAMPALA - The late James Wapakhabulo warned President Museveni of "grave
> complications" if Cabinet manipulated the Constitution to remove term
limits
> on the presidency.
>
> In an impassioned letter to the President, Wapakhabulo further warned that
> the results of a referendum held under a bill currently before Parliament
> [The Referendum and other Provisions Bill 2003], "even if favourable would
> have propaganda value only but nothing else".
>
> The fallen Foreign Affairs minister and second deputy Prime Minister wrote
> the letter to Mr Museveni on November 19, 2003. He died on April 2, this
> year, after a long illness.
>
> The letter, a copy of which The Monitor has obtained, was a response to
> advice given by the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, Ms Janat
> Mukwaya, to her colleagues in Cabinet.
>
> In a paper to Cabinet, Mukwaya claimed that Article 105(2) of the 1995
> Constitution is not entrenched and can be repealed through a referendum
held
> under Article 255.
>
> Article 105(2) sets a two five-year term limit on the presidency.
>
> Museveni is serving his last term but the advent of his retirement in 2006
> has sparked off frantic efforts to amend the Constitution and allow him a
> 'third term' in office.
>
> "Article 18 of the Constitution is exhaustive on the question of amending
> the Constitution," Wapakhabulo wrote in his letter to Museveni.
>
> "It sets only three ways through which the Constitution may be amended."
>
> Wapakhabulo's letter said that under Article 259, "the power to amend
> certain provisions of the Constitution is shared between Parliament and
the
> population," while under Article 260, on provisions relating to local
> governments, "it is shared between Parliament and district councils."
>
> Wapakhabulo further said that "under article 261, Parliament is empowered
to
> amend all other remaining provisions not mentioned under articles 259 and
> 260 by sitting alone and taking decisions that achieve not less than two
> thirds absolute majority" of all members of Parliament.
>
> The deceased minister said that if taken, therefore, the advice by Mukwaya
> "would set up a fourth window through which to amend the Constitution."
>
> Wapakhabulo also rejected the view of the Solicitor General that since
> attempts to repeal Article 105(2) have become so contentious, government
> should call in Article 1(1), which says that all powers belong to the
> people, and Article 1(4), which provides for the right of the people to
> express their will and consent as to who shall govern them, to resolve the
> issue.
>
> "This argument is misconceived," Wapakhabulo wrote, "what is contentious
is
> not the forum in which article 105(2) of the Constitution is to be
repealed.
>
> What is contentious is whether it should be repealed at all. In this case
it
> becomes a question of numbers. If you have the numbers in Parliament, you
> carry the day, if you do not have the numbers, too bad."
>
> Wapakhabulo also warned Museveni that if Article 105(2) were amended
through
> a referendum, opponents would seek a court injunction and block his
> nomination.
>
> He further warned that if the injunction "were overcome and the nomination
> went ahead, nothing stops them renewing their objections in the Supreme
> Court on the ground, among others, that a person who was not qualified to
> stand for election was allowed to stand.
>
> "This will call for a wide ranging review of the constitutionality of the
> elections the outcome of which is difficult to foretell.
>
> This is apart from the destabilising effect, executive versus the
judiciary,
> that would ensue," wrote Wapakhabulo, a former chairman of the Constituent
> Assembly, which debated and drafted the Constitution.
>
> At Wapakhabulo's funeral, Museveni described the Dar es Salaam
> University-trained lawyer as one of the best legal brains he had in the
NRM.
> He said Wapakhabulo was an intellectual lawyer whom he used regularly for
> legal advice - the others being Defence minister Amama Mbabazi, and
military
> intelligence chief, Col. Noble Mayombo.
>
> Sources at State House say Museveni received and read Wapakhabulo's letter
> on November 23, 2003.
>
> The President and the fallen minister were roommates at Dar es Salaam
> University in the 1960s.
>
> l Wapakhabulo's full letter to Museveni will be published in The Monitor
> tomorrow
>
>
>
> © 2004 The Monitor Publications
>
>
>

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