Ssekandi VP, Amama Prime Minister

May 24, 2011

President Yoweri Museveni has appointed former Speaker of Parliament Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi the Vice President.


By APOLLO MUBIRU

President Yoweri Museveni has appointed former Speaker of Parliament Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi the Vice President.

The President has also appointed the outgoing security minister, Amama Mbabazi, Prime Minister.

Museveni made the made the announcement this morning at State House Entebbe during the NRM caucus meeting.

Ssekandi replaces Busiro north MP Gilbert Bukenya who has deputized the President for over seven years.

Mbabazi is the Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM). He replaces Prof. Apolo Nsibambi who has served as Premier for more than ten years.

Museveni is expected to name the finance minister and the attorney general at the same meeting today.

Ssekandi will be approved in the second high ranking political office in the land by all members of Parliament.

Other Presidential nominee for ministerial posts will be vetted by the Parliament appointments committee chaired by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga.

Who is Ssekandi?
Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi was born in Masaka on 19 January 1943. He is a Ugandan lawyer and politician.

He is the former Speaker of Parliament of Uganda, a position he served in from 2001 until 2011.

Ssekandi graduated with honors from the University of East Africa with the degree of Bachelor of Laws (LLB).

He also holds the Diploma in legal practice from the Law Development Center in Kampala.

From 1973 until 1978, he served as a lecturer at the Uganda Law Development Center.

Between 1978 and 1979, he served as the acting director of the Law Development Center.

He was the lead counsel on the commission of inquiry into violations of human rights, between 1986 and 1993.

He was a delegate to the Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the 1995 Ugandan constitution from 1994 until 1995.

In 1996, Edward Ssekandi was elected to the Ugandan Parliament, to represent Bukoto County Central, in Masaka district, a position he was re-elected to in 2001 and 2006.

He served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament between 1996 and 2001. He was elected to the position of Speaker in 2001, a position he held until 2011.

He was replaced as Speaker by Rebecca Kadaga, the first female Speaker of Parliament in Uganda's history, on 19 May 2011.

He is married. He belongs to the National Resistance Movement political party. He is reported to be a sports enthusiast.

Who is Mbabazi?
Amama Mbabazi is a Ugandan lawyer and politician. He was the minister for security, a position he has held since February 2009.

He is also the Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) political party.

Mbabazi was born on 16 January 1949 in Mparo village, Rukiga County in present-day Kabale district.

Mbabazi holds a law degree, Bachelor of Laws (LLB), from Makerere University, obtained in 1975.

He also holds the postgraduate Diploma in legal practice obtained from the Law Development Center in Kampala.

He is an advocate of the Courts of Judicature of Uganda and a member of the Uganda Law Society since 1977.

Prior to joining politics, he worked as State Attorney in the Attorney General's Chambers, rising to the position of Secretary of the Uganda Law Council.

Between 1986 and 1991 he served as Director General of the External Security Organization (ESO), being the first person to serve in that position.

In 1994, he served as a delegate to the Constituent Assembly that drew up the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. He became the Chairman of the National Resistance Movement delegates Caucus.

He has also served as minister of state in the President's office, in-charge of political affairs. Between 1986 and 1992 he was Minister State for defence.

Subsequently, he served as minister of state for foreign affairs in charge of regional cooperation. In 2004, he was appointed Attorney General and minister of Justice.

He held that portfolio until he was appointed minister of defence in 2006, a position he held until he was appointed security minister.

Over the years, Amama Mbabazi has represented Uganda in International fora, including the United Nations Security Council, where he argued for the International Community to allow the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) to pursue the Lord's Resistance Army fighters beyond Uganda's borders.

Mbabazi had been implicated in the controversial National Social Security Fund land purchase at Temangalo but the NRM caucus exonerated him that he no case to answer.

According to the caucus, there was no evidence to show that Mbabazi influenced the decisions of the NSSF board to purchase the land at Temangalo.




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