Strained working relations: Speaker of Uganda’s parliament Rebecca
Kadaga, (left) and her deputy Jacob Oulanya have separate work schedules
and budgets, which is blamed for continuous clashes between the two.
FILE PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI
By CHARLES M. MPAGI
In Summary
- Speaker of Uganda’s parliament Rebecca Kadaga, and her deputy Jacob Oulanya have separate work schedules and budgets, which is blamed for continuous clashes between the two.
- The two leaders travelled separately to the US for the 28th annual UNAA convention.
- Without the Speaker and the deputy, House plenary business was suspended though committees were asked to continue working.
- The apparent clashes are causing concern at the secretariat of the NRM to which both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker belong.
A picture of Uganda’s Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and
her deputy Jacob Oulanya smiling, holding hands and waving at State
House, Entebbe, in June was supposed to mark the end of five years of
strained work relations in the 9th Parliament and the beginning of a new
chapter in the 10th Parliament.
But the feud between Kadaga (Woman MP, Kamuli) and Oulanya (MP,
Omoro) went on simmering for months before coming out into the open in
late August, leading to the suspension of House business for more than a
week.
Interviews with at least half a dozen people familiar with
goings-on in parliament revealed that a near total breakdown in
communication between the two saw both jetting off to the United States
apparently to attend the 28th annual convention of the Uganda North
American Association (UNAA) on September 2-4, in Boston.
The EastAfrican has learnt that the absence of
harmonised schedules for travel and sharing of responsibility for the
House, independent budgets for travel and plans contribute to the
unending clashes between the two leaders in the ruling National
Resistance Movement party.
“The Speaker went with her own delegation and the deputy Speaker
made separate plans and had his own delegation,” said a Member of
Parliament who has served in the House for nearly 20 years now.
There is no agreement on exactly how many MPs travelled to
Boston, with numbers being touted ranging from as low as 23 to as high
as 78.
An official brief “to members of parliament on the delegation to the UNAA convention” seen by The EastAfrican
lists 23 MPs. But a Member of Parliament we spoke to reeled off names
of colleagues he knew had travelled but were not on the official list
when The EastAfrican showed it to him.
In a separate interview, MP Abdul Katuntu of the opposition
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and chairperson of the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) said anything upwards of 60 MPs could have travelled.
“My committee alone had four MPs travelling, two went officially
and the other two just informed me out of courtesy that they would be
travelling,” said Mr Katuntu.
But both Helen Kawesa, assistant director public affairs and
communication at parliament and Ruth Nankabirwa, the government Chief
Whip, insist that it was only a delegation of 23 including members of
Cabinet who made the trip.
House plenary suspended
Without the Speaker and the deputy, House plenary business was suspended though committees were asked to continue working.
Some MPs have complained about the inconvenience the suspension
has caused to those who did not travel but Ms Kawesa justified the
suspension by insisting it had not caused any paralysis. She instead
placed the responsibility at the door of the executive, which is in
charge of House business.
“Plenary is not sitting but there is no crisis, you know
Parliament’s work is led by the business tabled by the Executive. The
Executive has not tabled any urgent business that you would say is being
stalled because the plenary is not sitting,” she said.
An August 31 letter to all MPs from Paul G. Wabwire of the
office of the Clerk to Parliament announced the suspension of plenary
business
But various sources insist there was pending business that only
the absence of the two principals of parliament could have caused.
“Around July 21, the Speaker was out of the country and the
deputy chaired a session when we started debate on police brutality.
When she returned and apparently without letting her deputy know, she
just took over instead of letting him finish discussion on the matter as
is normally the case.”
A senior MP close to both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker told The EastAfrican;
“Jacob was not happy, when then shortly after the Speaker left for
Mauritius as the debate on the controversial age limit Bill was due to
come up. Oulanya felt he did not want to be left to handle only the
controversial business of the House, so he left to campaign for NRM
candidates in Omoro.
“While still in the constituency he was told Kadaga was
travelling to the US, but he said, ‘I have also made my plans, I am
travelling too’.”
“They still don’t communicate (since the 8th Parliament,)” the
source said, “they communicate through their staff and since each
controls their own budget and schedule. it appears the deputy insists
his office is constitutional and therefore he does not have to get work
from the Speaker because technically she is not his boss.”
The apparent clashes are causing concern at the secretariat of
the NRM to which both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker belong. A senior
official said the current situation in parliament is the subject of a
brief to party chairman President Yoweri Museveni whom they want to rein
in the two senior party and government officials to smoothen working
relations.
The Uganda North American Association is the biggest association
of Ugandans in the diaspora and recently became a major force given the
economic worth of its members.
Political parties in Uganda started courting the association,
for both money and political support. The infusion of politics into the
association created a split as parties sought to influence its
leadershipquoting a request from the prime minister that indicated a busy
schedule for the Cabinet.
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