Kadaga: Museveni yet to reply to my letter on speaker election

Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has revealed that President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni is yet to respond to the letter she and her Parliamentary Commission wrote to him proposing May 21 as date for election of speaker and deputy speaker.

Kadaga told plenary on Monday that it is only President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni who has powers to determine the date for speaker and deputy speaker elections.

Days ago, Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda wrote to Kadaga and her Parliamentary Commission asking for the postponement of speaker and deputy speaker election date to allow political parties time to caucus.

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But Kadaga told Rugunda there was no need for him to write to the Parliamentary Commission since the law vests powers to set voting date for speaker and deputy speaker election in the president.

She cited article 95 which puts a seven-day ultimatum within which the election of speaker and deputy speaker should be conducted, and that the date and place of the new Parliament are to be determined by the president.

With Museveni yet to reply to Kadaga and her Commission’s letter proposing May 21, Parliament will have to wait for the president to make an announcement on the matter.

But, with swearing-in of new MPs starting May 17 and ending May 20, the law gives Museveni only seven days within which to set that date and instruct the chief justice to preside over the election of speaker and deputy speaker.

What this means is that the election will happen by May 27.

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