Some citizens of Uganda have staged a mock funeral for President Yoweri Museveni in protest at a plan to remove the presidential age limit of 75 years.
The spokesperson, Samson Kasasira, said that the country’s police have arrested and detained three men, including two university students, parading a coffin in the south-western city of Mbarara.
Kasasira said the coffin was topped by a portrait of the president and carried the inscription: “Rest in peace Museveni.”
Kasasira said: “the men had gone ahead with the protest in spite of having been denied permission to stage it.”
He said that they would be charged with sedition.
The arrests followed reports that a faction of ruling party legislators want to change the constitution to remove the presidential age limit of 75 years, which would leave Museveni, 72, ineligible to run for the presidency in the next elections in 2021.
The ruling National Resistance Movement has almost 70 per cent of the seats in parliament.
Critics say Museveni, who has ruled the East African country since 1986, has become increasingly repressive of the freedom of speech.
Source: dpa/NAN. [myad]
