The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Central Executive Committee (CEC) is meeting at State House Entebbe today to vet and choose a candidate between Rebecca Kadaga and Jacob Oulanyah before making a recommendation for the parliamentary caucus.
NRM chairman President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni is expected to chair the crucial meeting during which Kadaga and Oulanyah will be vetted.
NRM CEC is expected to refer to its 2016 resolutions that determined Kadaga’s endorsement.
Then, Museveni and fellow CEC members agreed that Oulanyah could wait for five years as Kadaga completed a decade at the helm of the legislative arm of government.
The party’s top organ is expected to seek compromise and consensus to avoid creating disharmony in the party.
Oulanyah and Kadaga are the only two NRM members who have sought the party’s ticket for the speakership.
This means that the CEC has to choose between the two or leave both to contest as independent candidates.
With May 24 already set as election date, the ruling party has little time left to make this tough choice.
If NRM CEC approves both Oulanyah and Kadaga, the party’s Parliamentary caucus will convene on May 23 to choose between the two.
The winner will be the NRM candidate for speaker, and will stand higher chances of election as 11th Parliament speaker if the loser in the caucus doesn’t stand as an independent.
NRM CEC will also choose a candidate for the deputy speaker position.
Nankabirwa: Let Jacob Oulanyah teach Kadaga a lesson because she’s disrespectful