Opposition legislators betrayed us - Ssemujju

Elections for Speaker of  the 11th Parliament were concluded on Monday, with Kira Municipality MP and former Opposition Chief Whip Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda polling 15 votes. Daily Monitor’s ElizabethKamurungi spoke to Mr Ssemujju on what cost him the seat, and what lies ahead for the Opposition in the Parliament. 

How was the race?
When I first publicly heard about this (race), I said the Opposition must have a candidate and that candidate did not have to be me. But all my senior colleagues in the Opposition lacked courage to take on [Rebecca] Kadaga or they were her friends. So having issued a threat that the Opposition must have a candidate, and nobody was willing, I had to plunge in. I thought the Opposition would find reason .  But on a personal level, I am happy because I will take on NRM when an opportunity comes. 
 
Why do you think you lost the election?
If my main constituency (Opposition) had immediate interest to serve, I would not even be asking the Opposition to vote for me. 
We would collectively be looking for votes but you could hear some Opposition say ‘for me, you did not consult me’ as if this was personal. So the constituency abandoned me.  Many became campaigners for Ms Kadaga. If the Opposition had worked together, not just for me but also for the deputy, we would be an alternative to the NRM.  There are people within the NRM who are not comfortable but we did not make them comfortable to join our side. The reason it became complicated was because the Opposition did not embrace this as an opposition assignment.
 
Some were saying Ssemujju is arrogant, but look at the Deputy Speaker race. It is what has made us so vulnerable that 120 Opposition MPs voted an NRM MP. At least Ms Kadaga was Independent, and was now taking on NRM, but what about Anita [Among]? We have had a flawed start as Opposition in the 11th Parliament. 
 
You sound like you were let down by fellow change seekers
They did not let me down, they let down the country and those who entrusted them with their vote to take on the NRM.  You ally with Ms Kadaga, who has publically confessed and taken pride in presiding over Parliament and allowing Special Forces Command (SFC)to beat MPs to lift the age limit to allow Museveni to rule for life and you say that is your candidate; better than Ssemujju who was beaten and arrested? 

Some MPs argued that the Opposition did not have the numbers, and chose to rally behind a likely candidate who would serve their interests…
That is the most stupid argument I have heard. What about Ms Anita Among? So Between Anita, [FDC’s Yusuf] Nsibambi and [Muhammad] Nsereko, is she  still the better devil? People are looking for excuses. You can lie but you cannot lie all the time that you have the same reason to vote for Kadaga and they are the same reasons to vote for Among. We will need to sit down and reconstruct ourselves. 

Did you rally other Opposition parties for support?
We needed a candidate even when we went to Kololo yesterday (Monday), they labelled our side and sat us together as Opposition, NRM on the other side. You see, it is not sophisticated that they can separate your bodies and you take your heart into the NRM, you must be stupid. 
I wrote to every member of  NUP (National Unity Platform), I even wrote to Hon. [Robert] Kyagulanyi (NUP president) and asked to meet him at his convenience but he did not. Instead, he convened a meeting of NUP members on Sunday and told them to vote Kadaga. 

What factors determined this race? 
The NRM numbers are Museveni numbers. Many NRM people will wait to hear what Museveni said but Museveni is a very sophisticated actor. He does not want to leave traces and that is why he hides in CEC in processes but you heard him yesterday saying ‘the moment we choose official, candidates I made calls’. 

The factors that made Jacob Oulanyah win is that he has been consistent in supporting Museveni and supporting NRM, while Kadaga wanted to posture. If you are serving life presidency, your heart must be there, you cannot claim that the body is here but the heart is with the public, that is why she was punished and Oulanyah won. 

But also Kadaga has been a bad Speaker. She was a very good Speaker in the first term but because she had been Speaker and Deputy a combined 20 years, she had stepped on many toes and she had been discourteous.  As a Speaker, you play by the rules. So she created her own enemies and she doesn’t keep  friends and therefore there are very many people who were urging Museveni  because  they know he holds the key.
 There are many people who wanted Kadaga to go. She became double-faced passing, while presiding over a House that everyday passes what Museveni wants, and then she comes to the public to quarrel as if she was powerless, and Museveni does not like  that character.  If you go for him, you go and commit crimes with him forever you cannot commit crimes, and then you accuse him alone. 

The President’s presence [at the voting]. I have never seen Museveni sit from 10am to 10pm, he came there to say this is a referendum between me and Kadaga. The entire Parliament was in his hands, we were all surrounded by SFC, they made us leave our phones at Parliament, and those who are not courageous could not have voted outside. So the reason Museveni came there was not to deliver a speech, but ensure that NRM MPs are intimidated to vote the way he wanted.

There are claims that you were fronted by one of the candidates to divide the vote, and that you received money from them. How true is this? 
They should have pushed and the front collapses. How would I split the vote between the two because the NRM, in my understanding, was supposed to bring one candidate. There was another candidate of DP who disappeared at the last hour. So those who make that claim should have brought another person who was not for Oulanyah and then ask me to stand down.

And the money claims? 
(Laughs) so that I can take votes away from him? I met Oulanyah and spoke to him, I wanted to meet Kadaga I couldn’t, so I sent Asuman Basalirwa. Where I met him is my business. 

What is the future of the Opposition in the 11th Parliament? 
I know soul searching is going to happen now. I hope my other colleagues, including within the FDC, will know that we were elected because the population did not want Museveni and the NRM.  I hope those meetings will happen. NUP has the duty because they are the main Opposition party and we should begin reconstructing ourselves.
I know we will find a rallying point because I take no grudge against anyone. This is a learning process, those who did not vote for me thinking Kadaga will be their saviour, including those who have been abusing me, now is the time to sit together.   

Will you work with NUP in the Shadow cabinet, now that it is the dominant Opposition party in Parliament?
If NUP tells me that they are not going to work with NRM again and then apologise for abandoning the Opposition even when we were grouped and sat together, if they take it as a learning lesson, then we will work together if I’m given an opportunity . 

What is the main task ahead of Oulanyah as he takes on leadership of Parliament?
Oulanyah needs to play by the rules, needs to be courteous to MPs and needs to be a Speaker of himself. If Oulanyah follows in the footsteps of Kadaga and personalising Parliament, of turning it into an estate where you are dispensing favours and creating sycophants who are entering into your office trafficking gossip, if he turns Parliament into a clearing house, on the first day of Parliament, we will be up fighting with  Oulanyah because  I am not fighting personal battles. I told Oulanyah that my main target is to institutionalise Parliament, he said he wants the same thing. To give him credit, Oulanyah has been keeping time. If he says Parliament will be at 2pm, he will come at 2pm, if you raise matters of rules of procedure, he will follow them. If he manages to balance his loyalty to NRM, and work of Parliament, we have no option, we will work with him

Would you offer yourself for this position again?
Not only this position. If there is any position and the Opposition is not offering a candidate and I am still breathing, if I qualify, I will go. For me this is struggling for freedom. Nobody should be mistaken that I lost, I did not lose. I am very happy. It is my colleagues who are now mourning.