Museveni to meet new MPs tomorrow

President Museveni will tomorrow address the newly elected ruling party lawmakers gathered at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi District.

The President is expected to lecture the MPs-elect on the NRM ideology, governance and the core mission of the ruling party. 

Insiders within the ruling party said Mr Museveni would, among other things, caution the MPs-elect against disunity, corruption and “parasitism”. 

He is expect to caution MPs against selfishness and greed and ask NRM elected officials to be agents of wealth creation in the fight against poverty and unemployment. 

President Museveni’s government wants to use the five-year mandate to help 68 per cent of the population get out of subsistence farming. 

The NRM government has also promised the country a middle-income status. 
When contacted yesterday, Mr Emmanuel Lumala Dombo, the NRM’s director of information, publicity and public relations, confirmed the President’s address tomorrow.

“The President is expected at the retreat for the official opening on April 15 and already here the environment has changed. Security has been improved in preparation for receiving the President,” Mr Dombo said.

“We shall transit from other development programmes of the military into the general programmes of the NRM in order to enhance capacity building of the MPs.” 

Mr Dombo also confirmed that the party intends to push Uganda to middle-income status through the 11th Parliament.

“We shall have the clerk to Parliament to talk about etiquette because we hope this Parliament should be able to deliver the people of Uganda into middle-income status. They cannot do that until they have been given tools of management and analysis of society in order to do so,” Mr Dombo said.

He, however, refuted reports that NRM would train the MPs-elect on how to counter the Opposition and or win more support for the ruling party.

“These are leaders who have just come in [so] you cannot predict what the discussions will bring out. We can only do the resolutions at the end of the meetings which we shall inform you about,” Mr Dombo said.
The new legislators have also been kept off discussions on the issue of the position of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

“That matter has not been talked about here and neither do we expect,” Mr Kisos Chemaswet, Soy County MP-elect, told Daily Monitor. 
When asked why, Mr Chemaswet said: “We have been advised that the issue of speakership will be handled in the NRM caucus.”

“Discussing the speakership issue as the main matter here is unfair because there are many other pressing matters that we are gaining from this training,” Mr Chemaswet said.

Late last month, President Museveni in a meeting chaired at the State House, banned campaigns for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, saying it undermined the NRM party structures and cohesion. 

However, some MPs were seen last week displaying whisky and water bottles branded with Ms Anita Among fliers.  

Ms Among is one of the 10 candidates in the Deputy Speaker race. This matter, according to sources, is being investigated by the party chairman. 

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