I can assume duties played by Mbabazi as SG, says Museveni

MPs endorse Dr Ruhakana Rugunda’s appointment as Prime Minister yesterday. Uncertainty now remains over the role of Dr Rugunda’s predecessor, Mr Amama Mbabazi, as Secretary General of the ruling NRM party. PHOTO BY GEOFFREY SSERUYANGE

What you need to know:

Revelations. President Museveni tells NRM’s parliamentary caucus that the party constitution allows him to take over some of the functions played by the secretary general.

PARLIAMENT.
As the fall-out from the sacking of former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi continued into its third week, President Museveni on Monday said he can assume the functions Mr Mbabazi plays as secretary general of the ruling party, possibly opening a new angle in the ongoing debate.
Twenty-four hours after the President took this position at a meeting of NRM’s parliamentary caucus sitting at State House Entebbe, a highranking member of the party indicated that Mr Mbabazi’s influence is disappearing.

Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, the caucus vice chair, told a news conference at Parliament that “what is written on the wall is that in light of the current circumstances, if Amama chooses to remain a secretary general, his decisions will be ineffective. Legally, he remains a secretary general but in light of the circumstances he is in, it’s up to him whether he remains the ineffective secretary general or not”.

Sources who attended the Entebbe meeting told Daily Monitor that Mr Museveni said “… I have realised our party constitution gives me powers as the party chairman to do work for the party and I am going to do them. We always thought only the secretary general can do certain things but the party chairman can as well do them”.

The President, according to sources, said this after members questioned the relevance of discussing a report on the bungled 2010 party primaries in the absence of Mr Mbabazi, who is the secretary general. Mr Museveni told MPs that they should proceed with the debate and pledged to meet Mr Mbabazi later.
The caucus is not a recognised party organ of the NRM and as such its positions have been determined not to be legally binding, unless endorsed by the Central Executive Committee (CEC), which is the highest body.

Mr Bahati had told reporters that the President said the CEC “will be sitting” to discuss the position of the Secretary General but later retracted the statement and said the resolutions of the caucus will be discussed by CEC.
Speaking off the record, some senior party members said their chairman’s claims to constitutional rights arrogating to him the roles of the SG are indefensible. Under the NRM constitution, the SG is the secretary and custodian of the party records. The chairman, in this case also the incumbent President, provides overall leadership.

Mr Museveni is said to have maintained that “there never will be any administration gap in the biggest party that has now consolidated power for over 28 years”.
Uncertainty, however, persists over the political direction things will take following the removal of Mr Mbabazi. These doubts appeared to show in Entebbe where Mr Museveni promised, at an appropriate time, to invite his former PM for a meeting to discuss the way forward.

Mr Mbabazi never attended the meeting because he was “busy finishing something”. He could not be reached for a comment yesterday as he was in Parliament endorsing his replacement, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda.

what MPs proposed
The register. The old party register was “messy” and would draw a new one.
Cash to stand. Candidates seeking to run for President on the NRM ticket to pay Shs20 million at nomination. MP candidates will pay Shs3 million; district councillors Shs50,000, LCIII Shs100,000 and mayoral aspirants Shs300,000.

Holding two offices. Party officials who occupy positions of Secretary General, Treasurer and their deputies be barred from occupying, any other political offices.
Primaries. NRM primaries to be held three months before official nomination at national elections.