The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) top leadership has developed special interest in the ongoing heated battle for who will preside over the next Parliament.

Four candidates so far have expressed interest, two from the opposition, and two of NRM’s own. DP’s Richard Ssebamala, FDC’s Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and the current deputy speaker, Jacob Oulanyah all want to unseat Rebecca Kadaga who is so determined to retain her position as the speaker of Parliament.

Ssebamala is the latest to join the race, and holds very minimal relevance to the post. Ssemujju is vocal and well versed with parliamentary matters, but is still considered the black horse in this race dominated by Kadaga and her deputy, Oulanyah.

Whereas the position is strictly only elective by the members of parliament, NRM has intervened to express how important it is that members of their party remain united for a purpose.

NRM has demanded that Kadaga and Oulanyah should therefore refer to each other with respect and decorum.

The two have continuously accused each other, with each one of them trying to imply that the are by far the better candidate for the prestigious post.

Since the general elections were conducted, the jostling for the position of the Speaker has reached unprecedented levels, hitherto unheard of! Various aspiring members for the position have constituted teams, either openly or privately to canvas for support.

“The senior members of parliament know that the rules of parliament require of each member to relate with respect. The NRM code of conduct even goes much further to set standards and specify prohibited conduct. When these two are read together, they do not leave any room for guesswork in as far as relating with decorum,” a stern warning to Kadaga and Oulanyah from NRM partly read.

NRM revealed that it has always been the procedure in the past, that the Central Executive Committee of the their party normally provides guidance to the NRM MPs.

“Once the modalities for providing such guidance are concluded, the concerned members will be notified. This is a long old tested method of work that is applied world wide, with the appropriate modifications,” the NRM Secretary General, Kasule Lumumba added.

Kadaga: Oulanyah Is A “Dirty Little Coward”, Oulanyah: Kadaga Is A “Smart Big Liar”.

Apparently Speaker Rebecca Kadaga revealed that his deputy, Jacob Oulanyah made a distress call to her in the US to come back and take charge of a messy parliamentary floor during the controversial age limit bill in 2017.

Kadaga made the remarks yesterday Speke Resort Munyonyo as she launched her campaign bid for a third term as Speaker of Parliament, emphasising why she thinks she’s better than all her rivals including her current deputy, also a member of her NRM party.

“There are those liars in NRM who say I don’t like NRM, how was the situation during the age limit debate? I was in America when my Deputy called me and said there was something he couldn’t handle, I came, straight into fire as my Deputy ran away,” Kadaga said in reference to her Speakership opponent, Oulanyah.

“I heard that I made a call to the Speaker and told her, “Mummy come and rescue me.” Truth is I had a meeting with the Speaker that day and we discussed that I postpone the debate on the age limit. I did not run, I have dealt with more difficult situations,” Oulanyah explained, stressing that she has nothing against Kadaga, except with how they do work.

On December 20, 2017, Kadaga notably presided over the bill eliminating the presidential age limit that would enable the incumbent president, Yoweri Museveni to run another term in office.

The Ugandan Parliament passed an amendment to the Constitution which, among other measures, aimed to eliminate the requirement that candidates vying for the presidency be under 75 years of age.

By Baron Kironde