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NRM endorses Anita Among for speakership - Sources
Parliament Deputy Speaker Anita Among. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Among, from a party that is by far numerically advantaged in parliament, will have to resign her current position on the day MPs head to the ballot.
- Speaker-aspirant and former state minister of health, Sarah Opendi "did not attend the interaction" leading to Among's endorsement.
Incumbent Deputy Speaker Anita Among edged closer to becoming Uganda’s Parliament speaker after she was March 23 endorsed by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) top organ, the Central Executive Committee (CEC), to contest as the party's flagbearer in the race for speaker of the 11th House.
“CEC having noted that the NRM party has established a culture and practice of elevating the deputy speaker to the position of speaker, even when there has not been any disruption- and now even more when there is an emergency, hereby recommends Anita Among for endorsement," reads a section of an unsigned apparent CEC endorsement-statement enthusiastically shared by NRM legislator David Kabanda.
"White Smoke from CEC. Anita Emong endorsed by CEC," Kabanda had also tweeted on Wednesday after CEC reportedly vetted out over ten party members ahead of NRM's Thursday Caucus- prior to Friday's poll to vote a new speaker.
Sources told this publication that Among, from a party that is by far numerically advantaged in parliament, will have to resign her current position on the day Members of Parliament (MPs) head to the ballot.
The letter seen by this reporter further indicates that the organ interacted with at least twelve party lawmakers that had Tuesday joined a swift race to replace Jacob Oulanyah who died overseas on Sunday.
Sources at the CEC meeting disclosed that speaker-aspirant and former state minister of health who is also the current Tororo Woman MP, Sarah Opendi "did not attend the interaction" leading to Among's endorsement in Entebbe.
Uganda's health minister Jane Ruth Aceng early Wednesday pulled out of the race citing insufficient time "to consult her party leadership, colleagues and family."
By press time, it was not verily clear regarding how the party would navigate fronting a candidate for the position of deputy speaker once it falls vacant on Friday.
About Among
The Bukedea Woman MP, Anita Annet Among, has been presiding most of the House business in the absence of Jacob Oulanyah.
She joined Parliament in 2016 and has a Bachelor of Business Administration (Accounting), a Master of Business Administration (Accounting) and a Bachelor of Laws.
The 48-year-old joined Parliament in 2016. Ms Among was in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party and later shifted allegiance to the ruling NRM party, and voted for the removal of the presidential age limit in December 2017.
She was a bank manager at Centenary Bank (1998-2006) and a lecturer at Kampala International University.
