WATCH: Ugandan lawmakers clobber each other for two successive days

The debate on whether to lift the restrictions on presidential age limit of 75 in order to enable President Yoweri Museveni to run for re-election has divided Uganda members of parliament. The disagreement around this has turned into a brawl.

During the fiercely debated motion on Tuesday, at least 25 MPs opposed to the proposed constitutional amendment to prolong Museveni’s tenure were forcibly ejected out of the house by the speaker.

This was after opposing camps started hurling insults and chairs at each other. Upon being ordered to leave, they were joined by other MPs who walked out in solidarity with those opposed to the amendment to allow the 73-year-old Museveni, who has been in power since 1986 and increasingly accused of authoritarianism, to be eligible for re-election in 2021.

After the session ended, it was postponed to Wednesday. This seems to have had little effect on the combative lawmakers in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, who returned the next day with the same feisty spirit. Those opposed to the amendment once again took the fight to the ruling-party benches.

MPs exchanged blows and kicks, with some using microphone stands as crude weapons in the melee, and at least two female lawmakers were carried out of the chamber after collapsing, a Reuters journalist on the scene said.

https://youtu.be/WtAo6R22qVs

Reuters reporters on the scene reported that after calm returned, ruling party MP Raphael Magyezi introduced the contested motion. The motion seeks to authorise parliament to draft and present a bill that would lift the constitution’s age cap on presidential candidates.

Parliament communications director Chris Obore told Reuters the motion was successful. This gives Magwezi a month to submit the bill to a first reading in the house.

https://youtu.be/0UgtGqRkMPc