Women MPs-elect back Kadaga for Speaker

Deputy Speaker Rebecca Kadaga yesterday secured a vital endorsement from freshly-elected district women representatives for Speaker of Parliament. Speaking at a conference in Kampala, the legislators condemned corruption and promised to put at the fore interests of the voiceless.

“The inability of political actors mainly headed by men to dialogue, spell the urgency for women leaders to set up active platforms to save our motherland from destruction,” said Ms Christine Abia, Arua Woman MP-elect.
“We come as women from different professional backgrounds to set up a network that will be visible in ensuring that women leaders drive, influence and manage the affairs of our country,” she added.

Ms Abia said women need to take up top leadership roles to restore the lost trust and confidence in politics and the economy. “Turbulent business regimes with turbulent tax regimes, media harassment, attacks on advocates for justice reflect deficiency in the definition of democracy. We will support Hon. Kadaga as Speaker in the 9th Parliament,” she added.

Ms Kadaga has been Deputy Speaker of Parliament since 2001. She asked the MPs to vote for her so that issues that concern women can be prioritised. “I want this office so that I work on the imbalances in society. We have made some gains but there are still gaps that we need to bridge. We must have women in every committee,” Ms Kadaga said at the conference organised by International Republican Institute (IRI) under the theme, “Women Making a Difference in Parliament”.

But her opponent for the post, and Budadiri West MP, Nandala Mafabi (FDC), yesterday said it will be a mistake for the MPs to vote either Ms Kadaga or her boss, Mr Edward Ssekandi, whom he said have overstayed in power.
“Women are making a mistake. Ms Kadaga and Mr Ssekandi have been in office since 1996. This is time for change. There has not been transparency under their regime. No one knows what a Speaker earns or an MP gets for accountability to the public,” Mr Nandala said.

Improving representation
However, Speaker Ssekandi said: “That is not the way we do things.” There is a 30 per cent women representation in Parliament and Ms Kadaga is advocating an improvement on the 17 per cent women representation in Cabinet.

Mr Jeremy Liebowitz, the IRI director, said the symposium was aimed at equipping the MPs with leadership skills to face with confidence the new challenge of planning.