Kadaga, Oulanyah clash before CEC

Outgoing Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, her rival in Speaker race Jacob Oulanyah, and the six NRM MPs in the Deputy Speaker race, left State House without knowing their fate as the race goes to the wire.

After hours of question and answer session, Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah were told to go home at 7.30pm and wait for the CEC decision today at 8am or 10am. 

The six candidates in the Deputy Speaker race (Thomas Tayebwa, Anita Among, Theodore Ssekikubo, Robinah Rwakoojo, Robinah Nabbanja and Jacob Oboth Oboth) were also told to wait for CEC’s final decision on their applications. 

The CEC meeting, which had been scheduled to start at 10am, started at 2pm because the President reportedly had other engagements. 
CEC started with Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah before meeting the six MPs in the Deputy Speaker race as a group. Each MP was asked to answer specific questions and defend his or her candidature. 

Sunday Monitor understands that CEC members resolved to convene again today at 8am at State House to take a final decision on who will be the NRM choice in the Speaker and Deputy Speaker race.

Sources told Sunday Monitor that for four hours, Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah faced questions on party loyalty, corruption/ bribery and performance. 

The President also made reference to a security report implicating some candidates in bribery and corruption. The NRM chairman also complained about candidates who defied his directive on campaigns for Speaker and Deputy.

On performance, Mr Oulanyah described himself as “a star performer” and reminded CEC that he delivered 85 per cent to 86 per cent of the votes in northern Uganda to NRM during the January polls. He reiterated that Ms Kadaga didn’t even deliver 60 per cent of the vote in the eastern part of the country. 

Mr Oulanyah, according to another CEC source, reminded members about the 2016 deliberations, and how he respected authority when CEC and party chairman asked him to step down for Ms Kadaga to allow her complete 10 years as Speaker.   

Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah confronted each other before CEC members over a multiplicity of issues. For instance, the two principals disagreed over decision to allow Independents to vote in today’s NRM caucus. 

Ms Kadaga, who accused Mr Oulanyah of insubordination, dodging work and travelling all the time, threatened to run as an Independent candidate if Independents are not allowed to vote. 

The issue of the Parliamentary Chamber also came up when Mr Oulanyah accused Ms Kadaga of frustrating the project. 

Ms Kadaga in turn questioned Mr Oulanyah’s loyalty to the party and blamed President Museveni’s poor performance in Busoga and other eastern parts of the country on arbitrary arrests.  

The six MPs in the Deputy Speaker race face mainly two questions - how they intend to help the government fight corruption and bribery in the campaigns.

Bukedea Woman MP Among told the President that she delivered on all the assignments he gave her after she was grilled over 500 pairs of gumboots sent to Kyankwanzi as campaign materials only to be intercepted by security. 

The MP, however, denied knowledge of the gumboots and blamed them on her supporters.
Mr Ssekikubo was questioned about his rebellious behaviour to which he responded that he doesn’t have any disciplinary case against him. He also accused come CEC members of taking sides in the Speaker/ Deputy Speaker race. 

Mr Tayebwa told CEC that he is a lawyer and that he fished himself from the Opposition and that his loyalty to NRM is incontestable. He promised to fight corruption and restore the dignity of Parliament and relationship between Speaker and Deputy Speaker.  

Mr Oboth Oboth, Ms Rwakoojo and Ms Nabbanja - all defended their candidature and marketed themselves as most qualified for the job. They promised to remain loyal to the ruling party and all its organs.