Ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Vice Chairman for Buganda Region Godfrey Ssuubi Kiwanda has revealed the party will support a candidate of its choice, but emphasized Rebecca Kadaga asked Jacob Oulanyah to step down for her to complete her 10 years as speaker in 2016.
Speaker since 2011 when she took over from now vice president Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, Kadaga has expressed interest in retaining her job.
Yet in 2016, Oulanyah, now her deputy for 10 years, stood down to allow Kadaga serve two terms as she had requested.
But when this matter came up in Parliament, Kadaga ruled that a 2016 NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) decision was not binding on the House in a democratic society.
The party’s national vice chairman Moses Kigongo rushed to warn members against dragging CEC into parliamentary politics.
But Kiwanda, also junior tourism minister, says the NRM CEC made a decision then and party structures will soon meet to chart a way forward.
“Jacob Oulanyah wanted to contest speakership in the 10th parliament but we sat as NRM and agreed that he waits just like Rebecca Kadaga waited for Edward Ssekandi for 10 years and we would discuss what next later,” Kiwanda told NTV during a weekend politics show.
He assured Ugandans that “as the NRM, we shall bring only one candidate for the Speaker’s seat as well as the deputy speaker’s seat. We don’t want any more divisions in the party.”
“We shall support our candidate, but as of now we have no one. There is already a speaker at the moment, the discussion was very unnecessary,” he added.
