Oulanyah, Kadaga rekindle their friendship

The  Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga(L)  with the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah, after the ground breaking ceremony for the expansion of the Parliament of Uganda that took place on August  1, 2017. Photos by Roderick Ahimbazwe

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah and his boss Rebecca Kadaga rekindled their friendship at the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a sh287b new chamber of Parliament on Tuesday.

Oulanyah, who said it was his honour to invite Kadaga to address the meeting, sent the audience into fits of laughter when he said he was the only one at the event who had a boss (Kadaga).

"All the others who have spoken before me don't have. I noticed that the minister was alone in her own right, the clerk was in her own right, the right honourable deputy prime minister was alone in his own right because the boss is not here. I am the only one who is here together with my boss," he said causing laughter. 

 
That means, Oulanyah noted, the job is cut out for me.

"There is very little I can say and I am going to say very little really. I am just happy. Madam Speaker congratulations," he said as the audience broke into thunderous applause.

Kadaga did not react to her deputy's remarks in her address but appeared happy when the latter was making his statements.

No love lost

Since the 9th Parliament, there has been no love lost between Kadaga and Oulanyah. Oulanyah one time accused the Speaker of setting him up to pass controversial laws like the Public Order Management Act.

Their disagreement took a turn for the worse when the duo was locked in a contest for Speaker of the 10th Parliament.

Kadaga denigrated her deputy as "a greedy and arrogant man" with "political kit of only 4kg" who had just joined the NRM from UPC and was even "third" in his Omoro County parliamentary race.

Oulanyah's campaign team said Kadaga lacked the mettle to steer the House. It was an ugly campaign that even irked President Yoweri Museveni