Govt rejects ring-fencing House  job for northern Uganda

Government Chief Whip Thomas Tayebwa has castigated his colleagues from northern Uganda for pushing for the ring-fencing of the position of the new Speaker.
Responding to questions raised by the media on a resolution by the Greater North MPs that the position of the late Jacob Oulanyah’s successor be reserved for the region, Mr Tayebwa warned against tribal talk. 
 “That is not how the country runs. Oulanyah was not just a northerner but a nationalist. I think he would curse anyone who would say ring-fence this position for northern Uganda,” he said yesterday.

“The biggest support Oulanyah got (in May last year when he was elected Speaker) was not from northern Uganda, but from other regions. I have seen people who are even shedding crocodile tears. It is very unfortunate…,” he said.
Mr Tayebwa said if the same MPs were pushing for a candid agenda, they wouldn’t have allowed many candidates from the same region to contest for the same position.
“How come northern Uganda has presented more than four candidates if they were united? These are voices of doom and they must be condemned. We are nationalists.

 We know they are mourning, but that is not how you mourn. Oulanyah traversed the whole country looking for support. He got the biggest support from outside his region and, therefore, to trivialise his position, a position of a Speaker of Parliament that is number three in the country would mean that if the President goes, westerners would also demand then ring-fencing of his position,” he added.
Hoever, Mr Lawrence Songa, a member of the Greater North Parliamentary Forum, said they were expressing their interests.

“When you lose a child, it is important for you to cry out for the loss and when you are hungry, you can express which kind of food you want to eat, but that does not mean that if they bring another, you cannot eat it. We are waiting for what the CEC says and we shall go with that position,” Mr Songa said.
The NRM top organ last evening endorsed Deputy Speaker Anita Among as their flag bearer for the Speakership race to replace Oulanyah who died in the US at the weekend.

Background
On Tuesday, while speaking to the media at Parliament, members of the Greater North Parliamentary Forum came up with resolutions for the government to consider during the ongoing Speaker race indicating that the position, which had been “given” to the North, had prematurely ended and they wanted continuity.
This is not the first time a region is bringing up such a suggestion.
During the burial of former Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Mutebile at his ancestral home in Kabale District, local leaders from western region made comments indicating that the position be ring-fenced for their people.