President Yoweri Museveni’s recent visit to Kamuli district late last week saw him declare a suspicious truce between himself and Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga with whom he has been at loggerheads for quite some time.
The President said he had resolved all the outstanding differences with the rock hard leader of the country’s Legislature which has been a lot hostile to Museveni and his Executive arm of the government.As expected, Museveni’s remarks were met with all the welcome deserving from the seemingly unsuspicious Kadaga royalists.
Museveni further referred to his unprecedented record on reconciliation, exemplifying the late Eriya Kategaya with whom he had fallen out before mending fences again.
Former premier John Patrick Amama Mbabazi was also used as an example by the Head of State just to drive home his point convincingly.
In reciprocity, the seemingly contented iron lady from Kamuli, with signs of victory glued all over her face asked all his loyal followers to turn up in big numbers and cast their vote in favor of the man that had just declared his alliance with her.
One question that however remains unanswered is whether Museveni’s friendly gesture is really premised on honesty and sincerity.
Just over half a year ago, the differences between the two most powerful political leaders in the country seemed like they were not ones to be solved then and any time in the future.
The controversial Covid-19 cash bonanza in which Kadaga seemed to have wanted to appease her MPs in what was referred to as a move to involve MPs in the fight against coronavirus back in their respective constituencies.The move attracted a lot of criticism from both the media and and the public before the President came out to castigate the House over the distribution of the money which he called “Morally reprehensible”
Although it looked like Kadaga had been defeated after all the Members of Parliament were forced to return the money to the Covid-19 task forces at their respective districts, it reportedly came at a very high cost as the Head of State had to pay double the price to each one of them.
And the matter was not settled without a fight either.Even when the judiciary ruled against the move by Kadaga and her members, she would go on to swear and vow to fight to the end against what she referred to as an attack against the legislative arm of government.
Even if it publicly appeared like a complete defeat for Kadaga, it left Museveni completely exposed and humiliated after it became public that he had paid double the price to silence the would-be angry MPs. In anger, Kadaga had also revealed the fraud in the procurement process of the covid19 relief food items to the disappointment of the president.
Internal competition for the Central Executive Council [CEC] slots presented the opportunity Museveni seemed to have waited to reprimand the stubborn chief legislator and Lands Minister Persis Namuganza was the one identified by the Head of State to get the very important job done. Unfortunately, she proved greatly lacking for the challenge and as such, she was humiliatingly defeated meaning that whoever wanted her out would have to wait at the next junction – 2021.
In Kamuli, the Speaker of Parliament could require both hard work and luck to overcome FDC’s Salaamu Musumba to secure a place in the eleventh Parliament.
But even if she surmounts the Musumba challenge, she will have to first contend with Jacob Oulanya – her Deputy at Parliament before re-establishing himself to her glory of the tenth Parliament.
President Museveni, it’s been widely reported she favors Oulanya to replace Kadaga and the current term took the intervention of the party Chairman himself to convince his Second Vice Chairperson for Northern Uganda to give way for the current Speaker on condition she would relinquish the office at the end of the current tenure.
Why would Museveni get desperate to have Kadaga on his side?
The Kyagulanyi effect seems to have taught Museveni not to dare take things for granted.
Throughout his campaigns, the NUP leader has seemingly identified the importance of the Busoga vote to his side if he is to stand a chance at next year’s polls.
The proximity and cultural closeness of both Buganda and Busoga makes the NRM leader find reasons to get anxious to find all ways to get the region speak as one voice on January 14 and only Kadaga can guarantee that.
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