Hon. Beatrice Anywar shocked many after she voted ‘Yes’ for amendment of the constitution. The former FDC strong woman who later threw her weight behind ex-premier Amama Mbabazi as he contested against President Museveni in the presidential elections last year has come out to explain her stand.
According to Anywar when they were facilitated to consult, there was only one clause which was lifting presidential age limit.
“My stand is that when we were taken to consult, there was only one clause and it was about lifting age limit. Little did my people know that there is even a proposal to introduce term limit and increase the five year tenure to seven. This is where people are not given full disclosure about the bill. Here everybody is talking about the age limit,” she stated.
According to Anywar, her people told her to support reinstatement of term limits and since it comes with the bill, she could not watch it go.
“The people said they would want me to vote ‘Yes’ on term limit reinstatement. Now in a circumstance it comes as a bundle, I cannot afford to have it thrown out with the whole bill when I am looking at term limit”, she stated.
She explained she was disappointed after the Speaker did not give her a chance to air out her views before the voting process.
“I failed to catch the eye of the Speaker. On a constitutional amendment like this one, the speaker should really provide enough time. She should have gone systematically according to the list because every member must pronounce themselves on the bill. It is a constitutional amendment which must not be rushed”, she stated.
