The NRM parliamentary caucus has resolved to support a motion seeking to introduce a bill to lift the age limit.

In a meeting held at the President’s Office, out of over 300 MPs only seven opposed the move while two abstained.

This has been confirmed by the NRM Chief whip Ruth Nankabirwa.

Igara West MP Raphel Magyezi is expected to seek leave of Parliament to introduce an omnibus Private Member’s Bill to amend Articles 102 (b), 108(3a) and 108(4) tomorrow.

The current Constitution provides, among other requirements, that only persons aged 35-75 years are eligible to stand and be voted as president.

The incumbent Yoweri Museveni is 73-years-old who has been President of Uganda for over 30 years would be ineligible to stand in 2021 if the Constitution is not amended.

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ABUJA, NIGERIA: Opposition politicians should ally with morally upright civil society organisations and religious based groups in order to favourably compete for power, the Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Alban Bagbin, has said.

Mr Bagbin, who was presenting a paper on ‘government and opposition: Roles, rights and responsibilities,’ said that civil society organisations and religious groups possess the moral high ground needed to win over people.

“The opposition should try as much as possible to partner with the civil society, particularly the intelligentsia and faith based organisations, who are on moral high ground that is needed to win elections,” he said during the second day of a benchmarking workshop for selected leadership of opposition in parliament.

The workshop is being held at the National Institute for Legislative Studies in Abuja, Nigeria. MPs in attendance include the Chairperson, Public Accounts Committee, Angeline Osegge;. Silas Aogon (Ind, Kumi Munic); Fred Tumuheirwe (Rujumbura) and Santa Alum (UPC, Oyam district). The MPs serve on the accountability committees of Public Accounts; Commission, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises; and Government Assurances and Implementation.

Bagbin, the MP for Nadowli-Kaleo in the Upper West Region in Ghana, was Majority Leader during the National Democratic Congress government, which lost to the New Patriotic Party in the December elections. He was elected Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

He said that the opposition must seek allies and avoid trying to lean on the side of the majority especially in the House.

“People should see you doing the right thing based on honesty and integrity; once you get the moral high ground, whether the president is listening to you or not, persons listening to you will force him to listen to you,” said Bagbin.

Opposition MPs wondered how they could speak with a single common voice on various issues, whereas they belong to different parties.

Osegge said that although elected legislators have the mandate of the people, they have no power of execution since they do not control the funds.

“And whenever there is poor or dissatisfaction in service delivery, the nearest picture or person to government that can be identified is the Member of Parliament,” she said.

Tumuheirwe wondered how party structures can be strengthened to avoid parties built around strong personalities crumbling when those parties lose power.

“How do you ensure that members do not desert a party when it is not in power?” he said adding, “And how do you articulate government programmes or positions and remain relevant in your own party (that is in the Opposition)?”

Santa Alum (UPC) said that sometimes individual MP’s position may be different from that taken by the party on whose ticket the member stood for election.

Sentell Barnes, Resident Country Director of International Republican Institute, recommended that MPs must always be involved in the decision making of their parties, and that parties should allow their legislators to side with their voters in cases where they disagree with the party position.

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President Yoweri Museveni has told American investors that he would like President Donald Trump to prioritize economic infrastructure development to help lower the cost of doing business in developing countries.

The President was yesterday addressing the Uganda Investors Roundtable organized and hosted by Norton Rose Fulbright, a leading international law firm in the United States of America and the US chamber of Commerce in New York at the sidelines of the 72^nd, session of the United Nations General Assembly.

When asked by moderators Ikenna Emehelu and Clare Karabarinde what he would tell Trump to prioritize, the President responded, “Economic Infrastructure development”.

“I would tell Trump to prioritize infrastructure. We have been a little bit frustrated by western governments and companies that were not clear about the bottlenecks we had to deal with. One of the bottlenecks is the private sector. If you want to promote the private sector you need to talk about profits. In order for the private sector to make profits they need to lower costs of doing business, low costs of electricity, transport and labor,” he said.

The President said one of the challenges Uganda needed to tackle was electricity but the country did not get cooperation from the western countries in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
“Western countries would only support social development such as schools and health centers but not economic infrastructure. If you support health and education but do not support the economic infrastructure how will I sustain the social sectors if the economy is not growing,” he said.

The President said it’s never too late for western governments and companies to participate both through soft loans to the government or develop them as EPP projects where the private sector works with the government.

“The aim of investing in infrastructure is to have low costs of production so that the private companies can make profit. Private companies should come and invest in manufacturing, services, hotels and ICT,” he said.

The President was amused when the organisers played his famous ‘You want another rap lyric popularly known as Mpenkoni’ before letting him answer more questions on investment opportunities in Uganda.

“Business is about two people; the buyers and the consumers. If you have got these two people then you have potential for good business. If I produce a good or service you need someone to buy it if you don not have enough buyers then you become bankrupt. That is why therefore people in US and Europe need to know about Africa. Africa is a land that is four times the size of the USA. The population of Africa is today 1.3 billion and will be 2.5 billion by 2050,” he said.

The President emphasized the need for market access for Africa pointing out blocks such as COMESA, EAC and SADC that are available for investors.

“When I come to talk to you I do not come to talk to you about Uganda alone. Uganda is a land of 40 million people but once you invest in Uganda you will sell in East Africa, and even COMESA the bigger market,” he said.

President Museveni said Uganda has got all sorts of investment opportunities including in agro processing, minerals including in the petroleum and gas sector, electricity sector and rail transport.

The Norton Rose Fulbright were represented by Peter Martyr, the Global Chief Executive of Norton Rose Fulbright, Gov. George Pataki, former governor of New York State and Senior Counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright and Scott Eisner from the US Chamber of Commerce

The firm has more than 4000 lawyers in 33 countries across Africa, United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Investors where from companies like The Blackstone Group,  Sithe Global Power, Symbion Power,  Denham Capital Management, General Electric, John Deere, American Tower, Africa Integras, Kuramo Nile Capital, 8B  and several other major companies, to discuss investment opportunities within the infrastructure, energy, mining, healthcare, ICT and agriculture sectors in Uganda.

The meeting was attended by Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Sam Kutesa, the Minister for Finance Matia Kassaija and Uganda’s Permanent Representative to UN Adonia Ayebare.

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