Former Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga was on Monday left grief-stricken after NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) decided that all candidates seeking to contest for the office of Speaker and Deputy Speaker will seek clearance from the Party’s top decision making organ.
NRM CEC met to set guidelines for the Party to choose its flag bearers ahead of the May 24th elections during the first sitting of the 11th Parliament.
A source told this website that the NRM CEC meeting that was attended by all executive members except Crispus Kiyonga, decided to vet all candidates vying for speaker and deputy speaker during the 22nd May sitting. Apparently, NRM EC will, starting Tuesday, officially receive applications from the interested candidates.
The decision to allow CEC vet candidates has left Kadaga gutted to the marrow because she has in the recent past undermined CEC as an organ that has nothing to do with parliament.
In fact, she even launched a campaign to have several members of CEC whom she perceived to be against her, be disqualified.
While chairing the House on March 10th, Kadaga’s emotional intelligence was put to test when she blasted NRM CEC saying the party organ which endorsed her for two terms as Speaker is useless and cannot dictate matters of Parliament.
When reminded by outgoing Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa about the 2016 ‘unwritten rule’, Kadaga shamelessly rubbished the claims saying, “Do you want us now to bring the CEC members to confirm or deny what you are saying?”
During that particular sitting, Kadaga even ruled Nankabirwa out of order saying that she [Nankabirwa] does not speak for the CEC nor is she the spokesperson of the CEC.
“I do not think the CEC has a right to bind a future Parliament before its members are even elected. That is totally undemocratic. Stop talking about CEC here. We are talking about issues of the House. Secondly, the CEC last sat in the primaries. That is the last time it sat. Do not bring issues of CEC here,” Kadaga.
Now, it is time for Kadaga to face the same CEC she undermined.
According to a source who attended, despite Kadaga arriving late for the Monday meeting, she sat in solitude. It is said that CEC decision to vet candidates angered Kadaga to the extent that as soon as the meeting ended, she immediately took off without exchanging pleasantries with any CEC member who were also seemingly unbothered about her attitude.
Kadaga has had run-ins with all other senior leaders of the party and government as she assumed to be the only powerful public personality.
She used parliament to fight ego wars with other leaders and arms of government often inciting MPs to ridicule them.
She even passed a motion of displeasure against the President after parliament was caught in an ugly business of allocating themselves money which was meant for fighting Covid19.
She has intensified blackmail of CEC and NRM party by planting stories that she is indispensable.
During the same meeting, CEC also extended the term of office of the executive committees of all NRM structures, special interest groups and the specially nominated members of CEC for 6 months from 20th May to 20th November.
