Euphoria as Tayebwa chairs maiden sitting
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa chairs his first sitting. PHOTO / DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The former government chief whip was welcomed with applause from legislators who cheered him on as he took to his seat after ascending to the fifth most powerful office in Uganda.
At exactly 2:02pm, Mr Thomas Tayebwa made a grand entrance to preside over the plenary sitting.
The former government chief whip was welcomed with applause from legislators who cheered him on as he took to his seat after ascending to the fifth most powerful office in Uganda.
This is also the second sitting since the passing of former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah.
If the first day is to send any message, Tayebwa is likely to walk in the footsteps of former Speaker Oulanyah when it comes to time management.
Following the demise of Oulanyah on March 20 in Seattle, Washington , Parliament in a special sitting convened at the Kololo Independence Grounds last Friday elected the Speaker and deputy Speaker to steer the 11th Parliament.
In his opening remarks, the visibly jovial Tayebwa, said: “Allow me and my sister to thank you for elevating us to this position. It is really humbling.”
He added: “We are going to move as a House. And our principal is what the late Jacob Oulanyah told us to do. It shall be we, not I. So let’s work towards ensuring that we succeed as team and then someone will say that the 11th Parliament was good”.
His sitting was devoid of matters of national importance, and only handled policy statements of ministries, departments and agencies that had not been tabled when all other MDAs presented theirs to Parliament.
Both Speaker Anita Among and her deputy are former members of the Opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
There was an air of euphoria in the precincts of Parliament as Mr Tayebwa chaired his maiden session. A number of MPs were elated and eagerly wanted to congratulate Mr Tayebwa upon his accession to the national leadership strata.
The Kumi Municipality legislator, Mr Silas Aogon, an Independent, was the first lawmaker to congratulate Mr Tayebwa.
“It is very important that I congratulate you. I wanted to be the first person to congratulate you,” Mr Aogon said.
The State Minister for Tourism, Mr Martin Mugarra Bahinduka, openly indicated that he had longed to be the first person to congratulate Mr Tayebwa on the floor.
“Hon Silas has stolen my opportunity [because] I thought I would be the first to congratulate you. But all the same, I think I am the first minister to congratulate you upon your victory,” he said.
He added: “And of course on behalf of the tourism sector, we congratulate you and we hope that you will continue helping us so that we achieve our targets.”
The Leader of Opposition (LoP), Mr Mathias Mpuuga, said: “It is my singular honour to congratulate you. I would like to wish you the best on your new role and we pledge our support as the Opposition in ensuring that this House is indeed the House of the people.”
In her statement, the Minister for General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ms Justin Kasule Lumumba, pledged to accord the new leadership the required support to ably steer the House.
“I want to take this opportunity on behalf of the government to congratulate you and the Speaker. I want to say that you have become leaders to head an arm of government, the centre of politics at an age where both of you are inspirational figures to the majority Ugandans who are young,” Ms Lumumba said.
She added: “So because of that, I want to say we have to work together to give the best examples to our children and grandchildren.”
