By Joyce Namutebi        
                
Five NRM Members of Parliament are vying to replace Sarah Kataike Ndoboli at the Pan African Parliament (PAP).

The NRM Parliamentary Caucus meets at Parliament on Tuesday to vote for the candidates.  

Ndoboli was nominated by President Yoweri Museveni as state minister for health (general duties) and her nomination was approved by the appointments committee of Parliament.

The five MPs vying to replace her are Hellen Grace Asamo (PWD, eastern), Jacqueline Amongin (Ngora), Anifa Kawooya (Sembabule), Elizabeth Karungi (Kanungu) and Abraham Lokii (Jie).

Nominations were held on Friday and Saturday. The candidates will campaign in Caucus before elections are held.

Amongin said she stands for Pan Africanism, continental stability, African unity, gender advocacy and natural resource protection.

Karungi said that once elected she intends to work with other members to ensure that policies that are made in the African Parliament have the full force of law.

When contacted, Kawooya described herself as a "nationalist, dependable, capable, efficient, accountable, focused, experienced, a pan Africanist as well as a tried and tested leader having been in Parliament since the Constituent Assembly time."

The clerk to Parliament has already notified PAP about the new developments in Uganda. However, the new ministers are yet to be worn- in by the President.

Ndoboli was chairperson of the women's caucus in PAP as well as a member of the agriculture committee.

PAP was inaugurated in 2004 and sits in Midrand, South Africa. Each member country sends five representatives.

The other representatives for Uganda are Onyango Kakoba, Cecilia Ogwal, Beatrice Rusaniya and Sam Otada.