The National Resistance Movement party Central Executive Committee has finally arrived at a resolution on the contentious item of the new Speaker of Parliament and the deputy.
ChimpReports on Thursday got the details of the ruling party’s highest administrative organ meeting held on Tuesday this week at State House Entebbe, chaired by President Yoweri Museveni himself who is also the NRM Chairman.
Rules Change
The rule for the party Caucus’ election of the Speaker and the deputy has been changed.
Customarily, the NRM Caucus (after swearing in) sits before the first convening of the new Parliament and picks its two candidates for the two positions. The NRM rules say the caucus can only exist after swearing in of the elected Members of Parliament.
The elected MPs of the 10th Parliament on the ruling party’s ticket are not yet NRM Caucus members even after being gazzetted by the Electoral Commission, since they have not yet been sworn in.
The swearing in of the new MPs is going to take place on the 17th and 18th of May 2016 and the next day 19th will the election of the Speaker and the deputy.
In 2011, immediately after the swearing in in the afternoon NRM members convened at State House and picked candidates for Speaker and the deputy before the election was held the next day.
This order however has been changed, paving way for the new NRM MPs to constitute themselves into an electoral college before swearing in.
The NRM Electoral College shall elect its Speaker and deputy before swearing in. During the formal elections on the 19ththe ruling party’s majority members will already be in the know of who to vote for as the Speaker and the Deputy.
The NRM has over 300 of the 458 coming new MPs. The party’s decision on the Speaker and the deputy is always the final game.
The NRM Secretary General, Justine Kasule Lumumba confirmed the development to ChimpReports when contacted on phone.
“We have changed the rules to make our (NRM) MPs elect and gazetted members chose the new Speaker and the deputy before the swearing in ceremony,” Mrs. Lumumba said on phone.
Lumumba stressed that time is always limited between swearing in and the election of the new Speaker, making it difficult for the party to exhaustively make its selection.
“The adjustment (in the rule) was inevitable,” she said.
Lumumba also confirmed that she was tasked by the CEC members to quickly handle the issue of some of the elected members not yet gazetted by the EC.
“I was given the responsibility of working with the EC to make sure that our members who got the votes and were declared but are not in the gazette are handled quickly.”
The date for the elected members to sit and constitute an electoral college was not mentioned but ChimpReports understand it will happen after the swearing in of President Museveni scheduledfor 12th May. The NRM primaries for the Speaker will convene between 13th and 17th May 2016.
The NRM CEC members are also expected to convene again next week for a yet to be determined agenda. ChimpReports also understands the same CEC is supposed to receive and vet the names of those going to vie for both Speaker and the deputy.
Last week we reported that 3 ministers reached to the Government Chief Whip, Ruth Nankabirwa and told her to speak to the President on the question of the Speaker.
The race is tightly between the current Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and her deputy Jacob Oulanyah. The Foreign Affairs Minister, Sam Kutesa is also said to be on the race but he has openly denied it several times.