Speakership race: NRM defends move to invite Mao for party caucus

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The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has defended its invitation for Justice Minister Norbert Mao to a parliamentary caucus due in May, which will make the final choice on who will vie for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 12th Parliament.

“By his cooperation agreement with NRM and the subsequent appointment to Cabinet, Mao is a member of the NRM caucus. It is in the caucus that his business, including the budgets, is considered,” Emmanuel Dombo, the NRM director of information and publicity, said on Friday (May 27).

“There are no two ways about it, unless the agreement had exclusions."

Reacting to the news of Mao’s invite, Democratic Party (DP) deputy president Fred Mukasa Mbidde argued that their agreement with the ruling party is limited in scope and duration, covering only specific Cabinet portfolios and expiring at the end of the current term.

Mbidde, who has been trying hard to undermine Mao’s bid to win the Speakership, argued that his party president’s involvement does not signify a total merger of parties or influence over internal NRM decisions like the Speakership.

“What is happening is that they invite a Cabinet minister to give a full account of his service. The agreement runs the 2021 (NRM) manifesto, and clearly, he is going to give an account of his participation and performance in the fulfilment of the aspiration of that manifesto but the agreement does not go beyond the 2021 manifesto,” he told New Vision.

Mbidde, who is backing the incumbent Speaker, Anita Among, argued that if the agreement goes beyond the 2021 NRM manifesto, it only does so if it is reviewed.

“Our cooperation is expressed on the portfolios available for DP; the Speakership is not one of them. The portfolios are: the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, who is actually named expressly there as Honourable Norbert Mao,” he said.

Mbidde contended that “the rest of the available portfolios for DP include the junior minister and four statutory bodies leadership, and I think two parliamentary committees’ leadership”.

“So those are the only ones clearly stipulated in the agreement, which expires with the expiry of the current term of office; beyond this term nothing has been discussed and whoever engages NRM engages them on his own merit.”

In an earlier interview, Dombo revealed that Mao is among the people who have been invited by the NRM and may even either make a presentation related to his ministry or the side he represents in the politics of Uganda. 

“Honourable Mao signed a cooperation agreement with the NRM national chairman (President Yoweri Museveni), and that agreement does not stop him from attending the organs of the party like the parliamentary caucus, which should be done on invitation,” he explained.

Dombo stated that the specific role Mao, a former fierce critic of Museveni, will play will only be confirmed after the approval of the final program next week.

Mao eager to speak

Mao, who is the Laroo-Pece Division MP-elect, said in a TV interview on Wednesday that he had requested to address the ruling party caucus. 

“I have even requested that I would like to speak to the caucus and even attend the retreat in Kyankwanzi. I do believe that if we are to go forward, we need an honest conversation and of course, I expect that we shall have that conversation with the President of Uganda, who is the national chairman of NRM,” he said.

He argued that the problems of DP still remain opportunism and indiscipline. “These problems are compounded by the political context in which we operate. Remember, Uganda is not as free a society as one would want. It was always very difficult to organise,” Mao said.

“Now, people who call themselves democrats don’t believe in supporting what is supported by the majority. These are the contradictions that I’m dealing with, but overall, I remain optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party.”

The NRM’s central executive committee, the party’s top organ, endorsed Among and her deputy, Thomas Tayebwa, for a new term on February 20, 2026.

In line with the precedence, Among and Tayebwa's names will now be forwarded to the NRM caucus for their adoption as party candidates on the floor of Parliament after the swearing-in ceremony of the new legislators between May 13 and May 15.

The race has so far attracted four other legislators, including Persis Namuganza (housing state minister), Lydia Wanyoto (Mbale City Woman MP-elect), Alioni Yorke Odria (Aringa South) and Florence Asiimwe Akiiki (Masindi Woman).

However, the main battle over the Speaker seat is between Among and Mao, who has so far had a significant impact on the campaign.