President of the Republic of Uganda | |
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Type | Head of state Head of government |
Residence | State House, Entebbe |
Term length | No term limits - renewable indefinitely, five years |
Precursor | Queen of Uganda |
Formation | 9 October 1963 |
First holder | Kabaka Sir Edward Muteesa |
Deputy | Vice President |
Salary | 687,001,370 Ugandan shilling/US$183,216 annually [1] |
Website | statehouse |
Ugandaportal |
The president of the Republic of Uganda is the head of state and the head of government of Uganda. The president leads the executive branch of the government of Uganda and is the commander-in-chief of the Uganda People's Defence Force. [2]
The incumbent Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986 and is the longest serving president of Uganda, ahead of Idi Amin who ruled from 1971 to 1979.
In 2005 presidential term limits were removed, [3] and in 2017, the previous upper age limit of 75 was also removed. [4]
Under Article 102 of the Constitution, in order to be allowed to run for the presidency one must be a citizen of Uganda by birth, be no younger than thirty-five and eligible to be a member of Parliament. [5] [6] [7]
State House is the official residence of the president of Uganda. The main State House is located at Entebbe while the second State House is at Nakasero. [8]
The politics of Uganda occurs in an authoritarian context. Since assuming office in 1986 at the end of the Ugandan civil war, Yoweri Museveni has ruled Uganda as an autocrat. Political parties were banned from 1986 to 2006 in the wake of the 2005 Ugandan multi-party referendum which was won by pro-democracy forces. Since 2006, Museveni has used legal means, patronage, and violence to maintain power.
The history of Uganda comprises the history of the people who inhabited the territory of present-day Uganda before the establishment of the Republic of Uganda, and the history of that country once it was established. Evidence from the Paleolithic era shows humans have inhabited Uganda for at least 50,000 years. The forests of Uganda were gradually cleared for agriculture by people who probably spoke Central Sudanic languages. The Empire of Kitara grew out of the Urewe culture in the 10th century. Following the migration and invasion of Luo peoples c. 15th century, Kitara would collapse, and from the ashes rose various Biito kingdoms such as Bunyoro alongside Buganda.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa is a Ugandan politician and military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2024, he is the third-longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world. His government is considered autocratic.
The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force. Between 1961 and 1994, the office of head of state was the state presidency.
The president of Ethiopia is the head of state of Ethiopia. The position is largely ceremonial with executive power vested in the Council of Ministers chaired by the prime minister. The current president is Taye Atske Selassie, who took office on 7 October 2024. Presidents are elected by the Federal Parliamentary Assembly for six years.
The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is Nana Akufo-Addo, who won the 2020 presidential election against former president, John Dramani Mahama, by a margin of 4.23%. He was sworn into office for his second term on 7 January 2021.
The president of Senegal is the head of state and head of government of Senegal. In accordance with the constitutional reform of 2001 and since a referendum that took place on 20 March 2016, the president is elected for a 5-year term, with a limit of two consecutive terms. The following is a list of presidents of Senegal, since the country gained independence from France in 1960.
The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for life". This is intended to protect a republic from becoming a de facto dictatorship. Term limits may be a lifetime limit on the number of terms an officeholder may serve, or a limit on the number of consecutive terms.
The president of the Republic of Namibia is the head of state and the head of government of Namibia. The president directs the executive branch of the Government of Namibia, as chair of the Cabinet and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, according to the Constitution of Namibia.
Eriya Kategaya was a Ugandan lawyer and politician. At the time of his death he was Uganda's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs. He was also an ex officio Member of the Ugandan Parliament, on account of being a cabinet minister.
The Parliament of Uganda is the country's unicameral legislative body. The most significant of the Ugandan parliament's functions is to pass laws that will provide good governance in the country. The government ministers are bound to answer to the people's representatives on the floor of the house. Through the various parliamentary committees, parliament scrutinises government programmes, particularly as outlined in the State of the Nation address by the president. The fiscal issues of the government, such as taxation and loans need the sanction of the parliament, after appropriate debate. Parliament must confirm some Presidential nominations and may force a Minister to resign by passing a motion of censure.
The Constitution of Uganda is the supreme law of Uganda. The fourth and current constitution was promulgated on 8 October 1995. It sanctions a republican form of government with a powerful President.
General elections were held in Uganda on 18 February 2016 to elect the President and Parliament. Polling day was declared a national holiday.
A natural-born-citizen clause is a provision in some constitutions that certain officers, usually the head of state, must be "natural-born" citizens of that state, but there is no universally accepted meaning for the term natural-born. The constitutions of a number of countries contain such a clause but may define or interpret the term natural-born citizen differently. Many countries specify citizenship since birth as a requirement to hold certain offices. This is often described using the natural born phraseology and sometimes further qualified as requiring physical birth within the country's territory and/or requiring that one or both natural parents be a citizen of the country at the time of birth.