Miria Matembe: Kadaga has overstayed as speaker; she has failed to groom successor

Former ethics and integrity minister Miria Matembe has criticized Rebecca Kadaga for overstaying in the position of the speaker of parliament and of failing to groom a woman successor for the position.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Women in Politics Conference organized by FOWODE in Kampala on March 25, Matembe said Kadaga had failed to groom females to take up the top parliamentary job for about three decades.

The conference happened a day after Kadaga launched her reelection bid at Speke Resort Munyonyo on March 24.

She seeks to retain the speaker position, the third topmost in the country’s political hierarchy after the president and vice president.

Kadaga is the incumbent speaker, after taking over from now 10-year-long vice president Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi in 2011.

Before becoming speaker, Kadaga was Speaker Ssekandi’s deputy.

In the race due in May 2021, Kadaga is facing her deputy Oulanyah, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, and Democratic Party (DP) Bukoto Central MP-elect Richard Ssebamala.

Although Kadaga sought to play the gender card in her remarks at the conference, Matembe says the speaker has failed women.

“We put her there to be deputy speaker to train her so that she would later be speaker of Parliament,” said Matembe.

“Now, among that Parliament — the gone [defeated] and the new, couldn’t she have nurtured some other women in that Parliament who could now come and be deputy speaker so that we are assured of another female speaker later alone on the road?”