Prime
Can Among, Tayebwa make a difference?
Moses Khisa
What you need to know:
The onus will be on the Speaker and Deputy Speaker to rise to the challenge, to put the country above the interests of the rulers...
Two relatively young people are now in charge of running the business of our national legislature – the Parliament.
There are a few things quite remarkable about this development. Not too long ago, it was perhaps unthinkable that Hon Anita Annet Among and Hon Thomas Tayebwa would ascend to the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively. Both just stated their second term as Members of Parliament.
Mr Tayebwa decamped to the ruling NRM party in 2015 after years as a youth political activist in the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) since its founding in 2005. At one point he managed the campaign for Mugisha Muntu when the latter challenged Dr Kizza Besigye for the FDC presidency.
Ms Among, on her part, officially joined the NRM in 2020, was elected unopposed as Woman MP for Bukedea District in January 2021, then quite stunningly elected Deputy Speaker in June and became Speaker in March 2022.
For many years Ms Among was the deputy treasurer of FDC, and in 2011 pulled a surprise by defeating Ms Salaamu Musumba, a much senior and bigger-name figure in the party, in the race for a party slot to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).
In a rather dramatic turn of events, the leadership of the Democratic Party and the Uganda Peoples Congress conspired with the NRM to short change the FDC and deny the latter a seat in Eala. It’s a long story, but one of the most bizarre aspects of our politics is that over the past decade the main Opposition party had no representation at the regional East African parliament.
Among’s and Tayebwa’s rise to the helm of the legislative branch of government is as dramatic as you can find. The duo is the youngest pair to head the institution, and much more of outsiders. The late Jacob Oulanyah too was an outsider when he assumed the position of Deputy Speaker in 2011, but he had a much bigger national profile, and became Speaker after serving two terms as Deputy.
At the face of it, Ms Among became Speaker by dint of serendipity with the shocking death of Mr Oulanyah. Upon election as Deputy last year, she said she would be Speaker after 10 years; instead it took less than a year.
Officially, the ruling NRM, or to be precise the real consequential actor, President Museveni, stated that the decision to elect Ms Among was in line with a well-established precedent of a Deputy Speaker getting elevated to Speaker.
But the NRM and Mr Museveni do not have a particularly impressive record of consistently applying rules, norms and established traditions. Quite to the contrary, they have often operated out of convenience, pragmatism and even deceit and manipulation. That is precisely how today Mr Museveni is still president of Uganda!
It is puzzling why Mr Museveni would pick on two young outsiders to be entrusted with a critical site and institution that is Parliament. Now, to be sure, in a very strict sense of the word we really do not have a credible and worthy Parliament with the kind of institutional autonomy and independence expected of that branch of government.
In a proper and functioning democracy, the legislature is truly the most important institution. Only the legislature is fully comprised of members who are all people’s representatives, elected by the people whether directly or as political parties (in parliamentary systems that use party lists). Parliament is the people’s house, and through it citizens get accountability, voice and presence. Over the years, however, Uganda’s Parliament has been eroded and its independent standing greatly eviscerated largely at the behest of Mr Museveni’s pursuit of a presidency-for-life. What used to be a place of spirited and principled debates over crucial national issues has been flooded with a ridiculous count of MPs bereft of quality and content.
Uganda is at a precarious political crossroads. The national legislature can either make a difference in the positive direction or continue on the path of being an accessory to the misrule we see today. The onus will be on the Speaker and Deputy Speaker to rise to the challenge, to put the country above the interests of the rulers, to defend the sanctity of the people’s house and to advance our collective needs as a nation.
Two individuals who crossed the floor from opposition ranks only the other day, two individuals who are relatively young and have no baggage of the 1986 crew, now have the platform to make a different.
Elsewhere on Twitter, I expressed my deep scepticism about Ms Among’s suitability for the nation’s third topmost job. Will she grow the gravitas and standing to be a Speaker for the good of the country? I doubt, but I could be wrong. Over to you, Madam Speaker.
