Museveni Meets New MPs Over Speaker Job

Yasiin Mugerwa and Sheila Naturinda

14 May 2011

As the race for the new Speaker of Parliament gets to the wire, President Museveni yesterday moved to stamp his authority on who should take the top job in the House.

Sources close to State House told this newspaper last evening that President Museveni had summoned the yet-to-be sworn-in ruling party lawmakers of the 9th Parliament for a night closed-door meeting at State House Entebbe ahead of the election of the new Speaker on Thursday next week.

“The President has summoned us (all NRM MP-elects) to State House this evening for a meeting,” one of the members, who spoke on anonymity because of the confidentiality of the meeting, said.

“We don’t know what we are going to discuss, our Chief Whip Daudi Migereko just told us that the President wants to meet us urgently.”

While the agenda was not communicated, sources talked of the urgency to break the deadlock between Ms Rebecca Kadaga, the deputy speaker in the 8th Parliament, who is now competing for the top job and her senior Mr Edward Ssekandi, who was expected to be appointed the Vice President in the new Cabinet after 14 years as a Speaker.

In what looks like a turnaround, sources told Saturday Monitor yesterday that Mr Museveni was purportedly routing for Ssekandi to retain the Speaker job.

However, the popularity Ms Kadaga enjoys across the political divide appears to be a stumbling block to Ssekandi’s re-election.

Last month sources told Daily Monitor that State House had taken a decision to back Ms Kadaga.

Sources also told this newspaper that Mr Museveni could be calling the NRM MP-elects, to ask them to retain the status quo–asking Kadaga to withdraw her candidature for the Speaker.

But sources close to Ms Kadaga said the Kamuli Woman MP has vowed never to give up her candidature. Ms Kadaga has been campaigning to be the Speaker. If President Museveni asks Kadaga to retain her deputy position, it’s unlikely that the four NRM candidates who have fronted themselves to be her deputies will accept to pull out.

Even though Mr Ssekandi has been keeping his re-election move to his chest, not even campaigning in Parliament, on Wednesday he told reporters that if MPs elect him, he would gladly serve again.

However, MPs close to him told this newspaper that he has since started campaigning clandestinely.

Other sources in the party chief whip’s office said Mr Daudi Migereko has been making numerous telephonne calls to members, asking that they consider voting for Mr Ssekandi.

The new Parliament will be sworn-in early next week. Some of the errant MPs, who retained their seats in the 9th Parliament, have vowed to reject what they described as the President’s interference in the matter.

Our affair

Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Ndorwa East MP Wilfred Niwagaba, who is among the NRM MPs competing for the deputy speaker job, said if the matter comes up in the meeting they would remind the President that voting for Speaker is not his affair.

“If he (Museveni) was voted by all Ugandans, why can’t we also be given the right to choose our Speaker?” Mr Ssekikubo asked.

“The President has a right to express his interest as a stakeholder but we are also rational people. We know what is good for the party and what is good for the people of Uganda.”

Parliamentary rules of procedure direct that a Speaker is elected by the MPs from among their number. Weighing in on the standoff, Mr Niwagaba said: “If my name isn’t considered, I won’t accept because I would rather lose on the floor in a fair voting exercise, but not being thrown out by a few people.”

Other NRM MPs competing for the deputy speaker job include Omoro County MP-elect Jacob Oulanya, Nakasongola MP Peter Nyombi, Fox Odoi (West Budama North) and Budadiri West MP Nandala Mafabi (FDC).

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