Oulanyah defies NRM, insists on Speaker job

KAMPALA.

Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah has rejected a closed-door decision by NRM executives to ring-fence the 10th Parliament Speaker job for incumbent Rebecca Kadaga.

The NRM Caucus, which is numerically larger and comprises all Members of Parliament elected on the NRM party ticket, is scheduled to meet at State House in Entebbe, tomorrow to decide whether to maintain the status quo where Ms Kadaga remains the Speaker deputised by Mr Oulanyah.

The party’s Central Executive Committee, meeting at State House Entebbe up to midnight yesterday, had resolved that the current leadership be upheld in order not to polarise the 10th Parliament.
Hours after the resolution, Mr Oulanyah refused to budge and after a meeting with some of his supporters announced that he would run for Speaker “come rain or come shine”.

He held a follow up meeting with President Museveni, the national party chairman who presided over the nine-hour Monday meeting, but details of their discussions were not available by press time.

Whereas the Speakership is, for now, a two-horse race between Kadaga and Oulanyah, the Deputy Speaker position has attracted seven contestants. The party CEC resolved to re-open closed nominations for the crowded slot to enable Oulanyah register but he had not done so by press time.

Sources that attended the CEC meeting said the proposal to maintain the status quo was fronted by Hajji Moses Kigongo, the National Vice Chairman, and supported by Mr Sam Engola, the party’s vice-chairman (North), and Haji Abdul Nadduli (vice-chairman, Buganda).

The meeting also grilled Ms Kadaga, faulting her for opening a war of words with CEC members taking exception that she drew the first blood when she branded Mr Oulanyah as a “greedy and arrogant man”.

Sources at the CEC meeting told Daily Monitor that Ms Kadaga was also questioned over claims that she fraternises with Opposition MPs and her quarrels with the media.

It is reported that Ms Kadaga apologised and promised to work with Oulanyah. Ms Kadaga reportedly told CEC that she attacked her deputy because she was “under pressure” to defend her job and that she was “not breathing”. She also accused her opponents of using the media to fight her.

The President who is the NRM chairman, however, apologised for taking long to intervene and promised to reconcile the two principals as soon as possible. When Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah were called to CEC for counselling, members asked the two leaders to “bury the hatchet and move on”.

NRM electoral commission chairman Tanga Odoi, who attended CEC meeting, confirmed that the bickering between the duo was discussed with CEC and resolving that Mr Museveni should mediate the talks.

Mr Odoi said the NRM Caucus will take the final decision on the duo tomorrow.

“The chairman of the party will sit them down and talk to them. They were not reprimanded because it is a learning process,”Mr Odoi said.

Yesterday, Ms Kadaga was in celebratory mood, telling MPs from the Bugisu sub-region that CEC endorsed her to retain the Speaker’s job.

“CEC made a decision that the status quo should remain. I believe that the journey is now much shorter. These people (Oulanyah camp) have been creating lies about me every week. The lies are going to stop because the ground is now leveled. Those who were saying that the party does not support me, I don’t know what lie they are going to create this time, “Ms Kadaga said.

Asked how the party would resolve the stalemate if Mr Oulanyah insists on challenging her for the country’s Number Three job, Ms Kadaga said “that’s for him to respond [to]”.

Mr Oulanyah and his campaign team led by Buganda Caucus chairperson and Mityana North MP Godfrey Kiwanda Suubi yesterday met the President at State House to voice their dissatisfaction with the CEC’s mid-night decision to maintain the status-quo.

The CEC meeting at State House on Monday agreed that Mr Odoi re-opens nomination for Mr Oulanyah to apply for the Deputy Speaker job. However, the six MPs who had by press time been nominated for the Deputy Speaker position, were not told to withdraw from the race. They were told that the President will communicate the CEC decision at the Caucus meeting on Thursday.

Sources close to Oulanyah told this newspaper yesterday that he told his supporters at a closed-door meeting in his office at Parliament, that he was ready to be a backbencher and vowed not to quit the race for Speakership.
By press time, Mr Oulanyah had not submitted his papers for Deputy Speakership. His campaign team has also slammed CEC decision as “undemocratic” and demanded that the matter be left to the party’s Parliamentary Caucus sitting tomorrow.

Committee’s stand
The decision of CEC was that open campaigns for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will polarise the 10th Parliament, to be sworn in later this month, creating rival camps and hostility among members. However, other sources in CEC told Daily Monitor that Ms Kadaga was accepted on “compassionate grounds” even as other members demanded that the matter goes to the caucus. The source declined to clarify what compassionate grounds meant.

After CEC members put questions to them and they addressed the meeting, members reviewed their responses and later called them back together to address what sources called “the bad blood issues” and how they intend to deal with the poor working relation. The party leaders demanded that the duo commit to working under CEC conditions.

What others say

Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo said the party was acting in a “strange and suspicious” manner while Ajuri County MP Hamson Obua insisted the possibility of withdrawing “does not arise”.

Mr Ssekikubo, who was suspended from the NRM in 2014 for opposing the party’s decisions, insisted he will take “unspecified action” if party rules are bent to favour particular individuals. “Whereas we are humble and obedient members of the party, the party should not lead us into a position of temptation. We are not in NRM just for window-showing. Anybody who is trying to change the rules will be challenged. It is a mockery,” Mr Ssekikubo said.

Mr Obua said the jurisdiction of CEC starts and stops within the ambit of Section 9 of the NRM Rules of Procedure-which requires the top organ to vet and approve names but not to order candidates to withdraw.

“In the spirit of the rules, the issue of withdrawing does not arise. After vetting, the next stage for CEC is to recommend candidates to the Caucus. The issue of telling candidates to withdraw does not apply,” Mr Obua said. Kitagwenda County MP Abas Agaba said he would “painfully succumb to (CEC) pressure” to withdraw from the Deputy Speaker’s contest while Kumi Woman MP-elect said CEC’s proposal should have come at the beginning.

Mr Oulanyah did not respond to phone calls and text messages but Ms Doreen Amule-the Amolatar Woman MP-elect and member of the Elect Oulanyah Taskforce voiced misgivings with CEC’s decision on the race for Speaker.
Ms Amule said her candidate has already spent time and money on the campaigns and it could have been only proper if a decision about the contest was made at an earlier date.

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