Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, will have to resign her job if she wants to stand for election to replace the late Jacob Oulanyah as Speaker of the 11th Parliament.
Speaker Oulanyah died on March 20 in Seattle, US. (Read Story Here).
After the news of Oulanyah’s death came through, Kadaga mourned her former deputy. (Read Story Here).
Until May 2021, Kadaga was speaker of Parliament, having served in the ninth and 10th Parliaments as speaker and in the two previous parliaments as deputy speaker under Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi.
Last year, the NRM endorsed Oulanyah and rejected Kadaga’s reelection bid. (Read Story Here).
Kadaga defied Museveni’s NRM party and stood as independent. (Read Story Here).
But Kadaga lost to Oulanyah. (Read Story Here).
Museveni would later appoint Kadaga Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Affairs. (Read Story Here).
Kadaga is yet to declare her interest in running for the speakership.
But if she is interested, she will have to first resign her current ministerial position.
According to article 82(3) of Uganda’s Constitution, “a person shall not be qualified to be elected a Speaker or Deputy Speaker if he or she is a Vice-President or a Minister.”
This means that in order to qualify, Kadaga has to first resign her current job. Will she seek to replace Oulanyah? Will she resign? Only time will tell.
LAW: Nothing Can Be Done in Parliament Before Election of New Speaker to Replace Late Jacob Oulanyah
