Kadaga: I never agreed to leave speaker job for Oulanyah in 2021; forget that, this is a new Uganda

Rebecca Kadaga has denied ever accepting to leave Speaker of Parliament job for her deputy Jacob Oulanyah in 2021 as reported from the 2016 NRM CEC meeting that resolved the differences between the two.

In 2016, Oulanyah wanted to stand against his boss Kadaga for the speaker job.

But the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Central Executive Committee (CEC) asked Oulanyah to let Kadaga complete 10 years as speaker before he could rise to the helm of the legislative arm of government.

Oulanyah recently said he believed in the ruling party’s process.

Kadaga has already launched her third term election campaign.

But the question of the 2016 NRM CEC resolution has kept coming up during her campaign drives.

On March 27, she met incumbent and newly elected MPs from Karamoja and Bukedi to seek their support.

“Now, what I said about the 10 years, they were trying to force me out after five years; so, I said, ‘Look, why did you allow somebody to take 10 years and you want to push me after five,” Kadaga told the MPs.

“I didn’t say I must stop at 10 years, no, no way; there was no agreement, no resolution. Forget about it. This is a new Parliament, new CEC, new Uganda; let’s move.”

She also punched holes in decision of NRM parliamentary caucus on the speaker race.

“Any vote taken in Kyankwanzi, really, cannot bind what’s outside because the vote for the speaker takes place in the House,” she said, reminding the MPs-elect they were even yet to take oath.

NRM chairman Yoweri Museveni is expected to meet NRM MPs at Kyankwanzi in the coming days to pick a candidate for the speaker race.