The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
➡ Current CEC Members
✳ Museveni
✳ Kigongo
✳ Kadaga
✳ Oulanyah
✳ Mukula
✳ Baryomunsi
✳ Singh Katongole
✳ Aleper
✳ Kiwanda
Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the ruling party NRM has picked Jacob Oulanyah as their choice of flag bearer in elections of Speaker for parliament.
It is not yet clear if Kadaga will go ahead to contest tomorrow when parliament votes. Kadaga has been Speaker of the 9th and 10th Parliament and previously Deputy Speaker for the 7th and 8th Parliament.
The CEC decision will be followed by a formal election through secret ballot at the NRM Parliamentary caucus this afternoon.
Hundreds of NRM Members and some Independents, are already at State House for the vote by secret ballot to confirm the party’s flag bearer.
National Resistance Movement-NRM party confirmed earlier it had invited independent Members of Parliament to join the NRM caucus meeting. The meeting is expected to endorse the NRM choice for the position of the Speaker of Parliament.
NRM Secretary General Justine Kasule Lumumba said in a letter last evening, that President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the National Chairman of the NRM party, has directed her to invite all NRM leaning independent MPs for the meeting.
Initially, the NRM Electoral Commission Chairman Dr Tanga Odoi had said that NRM leaning independent MPs will not take part in the caucus meeting. Odoi noted that the independent MPs would only participate in NRM parliamentary caucus meetings after they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to legalize their working relationship with the party.
The NRM has at least 337 of the 529 members of the eleventh parliament. In the same house, there are 73 independent candidates, 43 of whom initially belonged to the ruling party, and fell off after losing the party primaries.
NRM leaning Independent MP, Juliet Kinyamatama (Rakai Woman Representative), Forum for Democratic Change-FDC’s Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and Bukoto Central MP Richard Ssebamala of DP have also expressed interest in the same position.
How CEC voted
After close to 24 hours of deliberations, the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) endorsed Omoro County MP Oulanyah to stand as NRM’s flagbearer in the race for the next Speaker of Parliament.
Oulanyah was reportedly a favourite candidate from Saturday evening when CEC adjourned to today. However, some members requested that the decision be made Sunday, and following lengthy deliberations this morning, a majority of the members backed Oulannyah over Kadaga for the job.
According to Sources, many CEC members gave testimonies against Kadaga and the tension that she has caused during her reign as Speaker of Parliament.
The CEC also discussed issues of bribery where MPs were reportedly given money to support and vote for Kadaga who is seeking another term as the speaker of Parliament, while the NRM chairman reportedly complained about candidates who defied his directive on campaigns for the position.
According to sources that attended the meeting, Oulannyah used the recent performance of the National Resistance Movement in Northern Uganda in recent polls to justify his achievements, pointing out that NRM secured more than 80 per cent of the votes in the region compared to the dismal performance from Busoga region and Eastern Uganda, where Kadaga comes from.
He also reminded members about his respect for the decision of the Central Executive Committee and the party chairman, when in 2016, he was asked to step down for Kadaga to allow her complete 10 years as Speaker. But Kadaga reportedly accused Oulanyah of insubordination, dodging work and traveling all the time.
The matter is now to be presented before the NRM Caucus composed of NRM Members of Parliament and Independent-leaning MPs. Oulanyah will reportedly be the only candidate for NRM and will not be subjected to an election in the caucus, while the contestant for the Deputy Speaker could be subjected to a contest, according to the source.
The CEC is however yet to finalize the choice of a candidate for Deputy Speaker between West Budama North MP Jacob Oboth-Oboth, Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among, Ruhinda North MP Thomas Tayebwa, Gomba West MP, Robinah Rwakoojo.
The Central Executive Committee is the second-highest organ of the National Resistance Movement-NRM party after the National Delegates Conference. Its membership includes the chairman of the party Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, his two national vice-chairpersons, Haj Moses Kigongo and Rebecca Kadaga, six regional chairpersons who are joined by the Secretary-General of the NRM, her deputy, the treasurer, chairpersons of leagues such as the youth, women, veterans, the Prime Minister and the Government Chief Whip.
According to the NRM constitution, CEC performs functions such as providing and exercising political leadership in the country, formulating policy for consideration by the National Executive Conference (NEC), supervising the day to day conduct of the NRM’s activities, appointing organizational functionaries from amongst members of NRM and propagating NRM policies.
CEC also recommends candidates seeking nomination for the offices of National Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General and National Treasurer and Presidential candidate for NRM. It implements the decisions of the National Conference and NEC among others.
MUSEVENI AND UGANDA’S TRANSITIONAL POLITICS
As Ugandans warm up for president Museveni sixth term, the cynosure is at parliament tomorrow. Uganda unlike many commonwealth countries where the speaker is dragged into the seat, here the contestants bribe their way into the seat. The NRM political ideology is synonymous with money- it is the glue that holds that party together. I have previously noted the simmering bad blood between the president and the person of the speaker. Museveni like any authoritarian, likes domination. And in the game of domination, no star illuminates without the sun. Museveni believes and acts like the sun. In the past he’s taken away this shine from Samson Kisekka, Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, Specioza Kazibwe, Gilbert Bukenya, Amama Mbabazi and now the jostle is around Rebecca Kadaga. Will she survive Museveni’s onslaught? Will Museveni prevail? Will the NRM survive?
The NRM political party faces three ailments: (1) Liminality, (2) Revisionism and (3) Substitutionism
When the NRA/NRM emerged from the bushes of Luwero, they had a ten point program but they had also professed to a three year transitional government. Liminality is an anthropological term meaning disorientation or departure from the norm. One of the ten point program was social and economic transformation- after 35 years of NRM what is clearly in sight of Ugandans is that Museveni and a few ruling elites have evolved but Uganda as a society has not revolutionised. Since the early 90s the country has been at “take-off” stage- we were then promised to be a middle income state by 2020- however, in 2021, our GDP per capita is still below $1,000. The irony is that the NRM sees itself as the only party capable of achieving this milestone and opposing is next to sacrilege. I, therefore, take it that the leadership of the NRM is as delusional as the people. What the NRM leadership has decided to do is to doll out political gifts for political settlements. Handing the speakership to Jacob Oolanya is a “thank you” gift for the Acholi people for having voted “wisely!” But the same was done for Lewero which was handed a ministerial post- still- no development in that part of the country. The NRM has been deploying a colonial tact of divide and rule. At its inception, there was the South (good) and North (bad). It seems the lie has come full circle and they’re now revising that position. The problem with handing Jacob Oolanya with the speakership is that it undercuts his effectiveness in office once he’s faced with the dilemma of impartiality. For instance, what will Oolanya be expected of once the bill for term limits is reintroduced? How “independent” will he be once the party caucus has pronounced itself on a given matter. But most importantly, by him relying heavily on the powers of the president, he rents out his political career to the person of the president. So, tomorrow three people stand public trial, Jacob Oolanya, the MPs who will vote for him and president Museveni. Rebecca Kadaga is largely a victim of the politics gone wrong and she carries the sympathetic vote of every mistreated ugandan.
(2). Revisionism: Over the years, the Ugandan constitution has gone through fundamental changes. Once acceptable positions have since been overturned. Similarly, the NRM party has taken on board some fundamental changes. We no longer have age limit and no term limits. In the NRM political party some positions have been ring-fenced for particular people. This suffocates political space making the few available political positions highly competitive. Rebecca Kadaga and Jacob Oolanya should be viewed largely as victims to the longevity of the Museveni rule. If there are certain positions that are a no-go area, then, where do you expect Kadaga to go? I heard it from Ofwono Opondo who is government spokesman saying that if Museveni can’t leave power, at least have some democracy down below!!! Such oxymoronic thinking should be dispelled with the contempt it so deserves. There has always been a truism that what’s good for the goose, is for the Gander. And lastly
(3) Substitutionism: In Lenin’s Russia, he had foretold of a revolution that never materialised. In1902, he together with his Marxist friends had formed the Russian socialist labour party. It later split due to his uncompromising rigidity and the two factions of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. One of his ardent followers that turned critic, Trotsky had this to say about the authoritarian nature of Lenin. “Where the proletariat was substituted for the party organisation, the party organisation was substituted for the party central committee and the party central committee was finally substituted for the leader of the central committee.” This description of power control (absolutism) is alive both in the three arms of government and the ruling NRM party. President Museveni appoints the whole executive with the approval of parliament. He also appoints all the judges with the approval of the judicial service commission. The only arm of government that Museveni has not been appointing is that of the legislature. If tomorrow Rebecca Kadaga falls, Museveni would have appended parliament to his courtyard and that preposition is grim. Inside the NRM Museveni rides high. He has reserved a place for his national vice chairman, he appoints the NRM secretariat including the secretary general. In the army he appoints the whole rank and file. At the moment Museveni looks untouchable but soon he will realise that his hands are rather too short to fight with God. I genuinely feel that the only realistic hope we have as a country is prayer. And although I harbour no hatred for Jacob Oolanya my fingers are crossed for Kadaga. For God and my country.
Rajab Kakyama
Kadaga has made her contribution. Let another person also have an opportunity to shine. You will never know what people have to offer unless you give them an opportunity. Leadership comes from God.
Leadership comes from God.
The current administration is clearly composed of a mix of good and bad people. A majority are thieves, kleptocratic, bribery prone, nepotistic, shameless,immoral and all the bad is with them.
However, there is a reason for everything that happens on earth. God gives us bad leaders to draw us nearer to him through our cries and weeping prayers. Amin’s terrible government ,though bad, handed the economy to Ugandans. This regime has unravelled some of those gains through so called foreign investors.
Oulanya and Kadaga are simply pawns in this game.
You will only stop grumbling when you are dead, why don’t you concentrate on your own developmental programmes and leave the leaders to play their part.
When will you talk good about this country? Criticising government all the time creats a bad image.
AM MISSING 3000000 For cec programms. 0775400680