Kadaga meets MPs, refutes Namuganza allegations

PARLIAMENT.

Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has refuted accusations that she provoked Lands State minister Persis Namuganza and that she influenced her family members to turn against her.
She appeared before the committee on Wednesday in a meeting held behind closed doors to explain her acrimonious relationship with Ms Namuganza.
A member, who attended the session, told Daily Monitor yesterday that the Speaker “spoke with honesty and presented requisite evidence” before the committee.
“She [Ms Kadaga] denied having ever met Ms Namuganza’s father and that she doesn’t know any member of the minister’s family,” the member said. While meeting the committee chaired by the Kalaki County MP, Mr Clement Obote-Ongalo, in March, Ms Namuganza (NRM, Bukono County), said she was introduced to the Speaker by her father, then Nkono chief Christopher Mutyaba.
She stressed that the bickering started when Ms Kadaga started ‘interfering’ with the royal issues of the Nkono chiefdom.
Ms Namuganza also said the Speaker was meddling in the affairs of Bukono County, a claim that Ms Kadaga described as “mere fabrications aimed at tainting her name.”
Busiki, according to the Speaker’s explanation, is a wider area of the Busoga establishment, under which Bukono falls.
The Speaker reportedly said this cannot be misrepresented to imply an attack on the people of Bukono as alleged by Ms Namuganza, since the people are vast with the traditions set up.
The Speaker is said to have admitted supporting an official NRM candidate, owing to the rules of the party but that she did not know that Ms Namuganza was contesting for the same seat at that time.
Mr Obote-Ongalo said they held fruitful deliberations that would inform the final report, which will be presented to Parliament.
Mr Obote-Ongalo, said the Speaker denied all allegations, including enthroning the Nkono chief.
“The Speaker said she attended in her capacity as Speaker and guest of honour; she provided evidence that she was invited to the ceremony,” he said.
“The Speaker also confirmed that the ceremony was not an installation of the chief but rather, the chief was swearing in his cabinet,” he said.
Mr Agaba Abbas (NRM, Kitagwenda County), said Ms Kadaga accepted having said during a public rally that ‘no one can stop her from stepping in Bukono.’
The committee was tasked by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Jacob Oulanyah, early this year to probe the cause of the public rift between the Speaker and Ms Namuganza.