Museveni stops speaker campaigns: don't waste our time

President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), has stopped party members from executing any form of campaigns for the positions of Speaker and deputy Speaker of Parliament.

"Those already campaigning for Speaker and deputy speaker should stop wasting our time," Museveni said yesterday while addressing 301 newly-elected NRM lawmakers, who have pitched camp at the National Leadership Institute, Kyankwanzi for an induction retreat  that will end this weekend on Saturday.

Museveni's warning has come at a time when several key players within NRM are positioning themselves for the parliamentary top job.

For the Speaker job, incumbent Rebecca Kadaga is expected to tussle it out with her deputy Jacob Oulanyah and Foreign Affairs minister, Sam Kutesa, who she accused of oiling clandestine plots within the parliamentary political corridors to oust her from the seat.

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga

On the other hand, sources at Kyankwanzi told New Vision, that Oulanyah's campaigns had already penetrated various camps of new MPs with the highlights being the heavy supply of t-shirts, pens and notebooks labeled "Oulanyah for speaker".

Lwemiyaga MP, Theodore Ssekikubo, has also joined the political battle for the position of deputy speaker.

Peter Ogwang, the NRM parliamentary caucus vice chairperson recently told New Vision that: "We have agreed that the NRM parliamentary caucus will convene on May 18 to decide on who will be the next speaker. The elections of the speaker will be held on May 19, according to the parliamentary programme."