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Tayebwa eager to be voice of reason in 11th Parliament
Ruhinda North MP Thomas Tayebwa takes oath after being voted as deputy Speaker on March 25, 2022. PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- It looks like Mr Thomas Tayebwa—the freshly elected Deputy Speaker of Parliament —is one of those who anticipated the winds of change and set his sails correctly.
In the book, “Strategies for Fast-Changing Times,” the American trainer Nate Booth wrote: “Today the winds of change are blowing from all directions. They are also stronger and more frequent than ever before…However, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime for people and companies who correctly anticipate the winds of change and maneuver their ships and set their sails correctly.”
It looks like Mr Thomas Tayebwa—the freshly elected Deputy Speaker of Parliament —is one of those who anticipated the winds of change and set his sails correctly.
In June 2016, while appearing on the Desert Island Disc programme on Capital FM in Kampala, Mr Tayebwa, 41, told listeners about the role he played in the formation of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
“I am among the few founder members. I am party member number 12. When we were forming it, it’s me, the late Louis Otika and Wafula Oguttu who were in charge of the secretariat...we did a lot and started the party,” he said.
The man, who contested the 2006 Youth MP elections for Western Uganda on an FDC ticket, crossed to the ruling NRM ahead of the 2016 elections. He then won the party’s flag in the Ruhinda North parliamentary race before pulling off a straightforward win.
Mr Tayebwa, who had a quiet presence as a backbencher in the 10th Parliament, would later make headlines for all the wrong reasons. A video of the legislator and some unidentified man whipping one Bonny Bukenya—a contract worker of the electricity distribution firm, Umeme— started doing the rounds on social media.
Mr Tayebwa was captured interrogating the contractor before he was prosecuted and sentenced. The contractor, who had allegedly disconnected an illegal power connection to the legislator’s construction site at Busabala in Makindye Ssabagabo, got 10 strokes of the cane for simply doing his job.
The punishment was administered by Mr Tayebwa’s colleague, with the trousers of the contractor pulled down in order to maximise the impact of the lashes.
Umeme filed an assault case, SD/87/26/2020, at Katwe Police station.
“Umeme’s attention has been drawn to a video making rounds in which one of our contractor employees is seen beaten at the premises said to belong to Hon. Thomas Tayebwa in Busabala, Kampala. Umeme strongly condemns acts of human rights violation,” Umeme’s head of communications, Mr Peter Kaujju, said in a statement.
The parties later reached an out-of-court settlement. If anything, the ugly scenes in Makindye Ssabagabo set Mr Tayebwa off on a trajectory. Following his re-election in January last year, he was added to a long list of people in the frame for the role of Deputy Speaker.
Others on the list included Ms Anita Among, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, Ms Robinah Rwakoojo, Mr Jacob Oboth-Oboth and Theodore Ssekikubo of Lwemiyaga County.
It was at the time an open secret that Ms Anita Among was a “running mate” of Jacob Oulanyah who was trying to oust his former boss, the Speaker of the 10th Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga. In turn, Ms Kadaga reportedly allied with Mr Tayebwa.
On the morning of May 23 last year after the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the NRM endorsed Oulanyah as its candidate for Speaker, pro-Kadaga elements in the House and members of the Opposition were keen on fielding Mr Tayebwa who had been edged in the caucus elections by Ms Among.
Mr Museveni was forced to work the phones in order to keep Mr Tayebwa out of a race many believed he was likely to win. The President succeeded, barely.
“Then in the night I rang some people (MPs) telling them that, ‘you have been with Kadaga but we now have Oulanyah.’ I rang others in the morning (telling them the same). There was a strong Kadaga faction (Kadaga and Tayebwa group) and a strong Oulanyah faction (Oulanyah and Among). But when I rang them they agreed to support the official [NRM CEC] candidate. I thank them,” Mr Museveni said in his speech to MPs shortly after the polls.
A little over two months later, Mr Tayebwa agreed to bow out of the race. He was rewarded with the portfolio of Government Chief Whip. During his time as Chief Whip, Mr Tayebwa has been credited with harmonising relations with the Opposition in Parliament. This, observers add, has often led to quick resolutions on different pieces of legislation.
Less than a year after he was named Chief Whip, Mr Tayebwa, is now expected to be the much-needed voice of reason and realism while discharging his duties as Deputy Speaker.
