Minister Namuganza demands Speaker Kadaga’s apology
State minister for lands, Ms Persis Namuganza appearing before Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee on March 28, 2018. PHOTO BY MOSES KYEYUNE
What you need to know:
- The speaker, according to Ms Namuganza, installed an unknown Nkono in total disregard of several interventions and family misunderstandings on the succession.
- The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah tasked the committee about two weeks ago, to investigate the rift, establish the circumstances under which the two were bickering and advise Parliament.
PARLIAMENT: Bukono County MP, Persis Namuganza shed tears while appearing before the Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges over her rivalry with Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.
Ms Namuganza, also the minister of State for Lands broke down as she on Wednesday explained her acrimonious relationship with Ms Kadaga.
She said their bickering started when Ms Kadaga started ‘interfering’ in the royal issues of the Nkono chiefdom, one of the core pillars of the Busoga kingdom.
Ms Namuganza also told the committee that her life is in danger, after the Speaker allegedly ‘declared war’ on her.
“The Speaker has penetrated the family of the late Mutyaba and divided us to the extent that I cannot drink water from her father’s home,” Ms Namuganza said.
The minister accuses the Speaker of installing an illegitimate Nkono Chief, after the demise of her (Namuganza’s) father, Christopher Mutyaba.
“The Speaker acted out of order to behave like a sheik who comes to install a new Pope,” said Namuganza.
The speaker, according to Ms Namuganza, installed an unknown Nkono in total disregard of several interventions and family misunderstandings on the succession.
Although the late Mutyaba’s desired heir was the younger brother of Namuganza and the last born to the deceased, attempts for his installation were delayed by President Museveni who asked them to postpone the exercise in 2015 because of the political situation at the time.
Ms Namuganza said the president embarked on the promise to reconcile the heir question in February this year.
She said that on February 28, 2018, Mr Museveni gave her a message to deliver to the Nkono royals, only to be surprised by the Speaker’s unannounced installation of a different person, loyal to the incumbent Kyabazinga, William Gabula Nadiope IV, barely a day later.
While gracing the ceremony, Ms Kadaga, according to Ms Nagunza announced that no one would dethrone the new chief for as long as she (Kadaga) lived.
This sparked fresh disagreements especially with the family of the deceased Nkono chief, where Namuganza belongs as a princess.
The minister presented a long narration on how she first got acquainted to Kadaga, during her father’s reign only to be betrayed years later.
She told the Committee that the Speaker whom she described as “a self-appointed chairperson of the Busoga Caucus, with a strong ego and unbridled supremacy” was using the caucus to propel her selfish interests.
Regarding the political question, Ms Namuganza told the Committee that the Speaker never supported her in the NRM Primaries for the Parliamentary seat which were held five times amidst violence, only to later emerge winner with a landslide victory as an independent candidate.
In a surprising development, the minister accepted having insulted Ms Kadaga on several social functions but she said that this was provoked by the Speaker’s own actions.
On Tuesday, lawmakers from the Busoga Parliamentary Caucus appeared before the same committee and recommended for the censure of Ms Namuganza as minister, saying that she was involved in gross indiscipline.
The lawmakers further accused the minister of demeaning leaders from Busoga region mainly the Speaker and the Kyabazinga, William Gabula Nadiope IV whom she allegedly described as incompetent.
Ms Namuganza said that she does not subscribe to the Caucus which she says it is not an organ of Parliament.
She instead asked the committee to probe the “caucus” for allegedly making ‘illegal declarations’ barring her from accessing her constituency.
She asked the committee to summon the Speaker to not only explain her role in the royal affairs of the kingdom and Bukono County, but also advise her on the parliamentary decorum relating to her position.
Ms Namuganza wants the Speaker to apologise to her and the people of Bukono for allegedly opening fresh wounds regarding the controversial installation of the incumbent Kyabazinga.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah tasked the committee about two weeks ago, to investigate the rift, establish the circumstances under which the two were bickering and advise Parliament.
Mr Oulanyah noted that the public exchanges were casting Parliament into negative light and needed to be put to rest.
