During the meeting between President Museveni and the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee on the age limit amendment, the president explained that age limit is a violation of the supreme law which says “Power belongs to the people”.
According to the president, Ugandans should be given the ultimate duty of determining how and who should lead them through regular free and fair elections instead of being merely “legalistic”.
“If someone votes, why can’t he be voted for?” President Museveni told the committee.
President Museveni told the committee that Uganda and Africa still face a number of challenges among them being under-developed and backward, and therefore search for leadership in the continent must be tailored to her needs with focus on substance not form.
“In a continent like Africa where we have had a leadership crisis and still faced with many challenges we need to be flexible, not merely legalistic and utilise all the potential from both the young and old. This is because it is more about our safety, survival and prosperity and not who leads us on that journey,” President Museveni said.
On media reports attributed to him about the performance of leaders above the age of 75, President Museveni said politics is about ideology and service and not sport where one needed to compete physically.
“Politics is not Olympics or rugby where you need to compete physically. The presidency is a guiding role,” he said.