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Museveni and the $1,500 ‘gift’ to MPs ahead of vote

Saturday May 21 2016
EAPARLIAMENT0606

Rebecca Kadaga (left) and Jacob Oulanya retained their positions of speaker and deputy speaker respectively in Uganda’s 10th parliament. FILE PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI

The dramatic scenes witnessed at the first sitting of Uganda’s 10th parliament last week on Thursday, in which the Speakers were elected — under the watchful eye of President Yoweri Museveni and amid allegations he bribed MPs to vote for his favoured candidate for Deputy Speaker — have raised concerns about the House holding its own against an overbearing Executive, whom it is supposed to keep in check.  

MPs opposed to the president’s presence said he was in the House to watch NRM legislators which he had earlier given Ush5 million (about $1,500) each “to rescue them from pressures.”

Critics say the money was a bribe to secure a vote for Jacob Oulanya.

This is the first time since Uganda started elective politics that President Museveni has played an overt role in deciding who becomes Speaker and deputy.

Since his re-election, President Museveni has moved aggressively to consolidate the potentially most difficult term in office, first by keeping his main opponent Kizza Besigye locked up in his house for 43 days before he was finally charged with treason and remanded. Parliament was seen as the place where rebellion was likely to emerge.

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Apparently, President Museveni was keen on maintaining the status quo: Retaining Rebecca Kadaga as Speaker and Oulanya as her deputy. Even though the voting was by secret ballot and ideally members would make independent choices, President Museveni’s presence throughout the voting process was intimidating enough and the voting went as planned.

Ms Kadaga was elected unopposed.

“I want to congratulate Rebecca Kadaga upon election as speaker of the 10th parliament unopposed,” President Museveni later tweeted. 

Dropped bid

Mr Oulanya, who had earlier expressed interest in the speaker’s position, was persuaded by President Museveni to drop the bid so that Ms Kadaga could go unopposed. In turn, President Museveni convinced seven NRM legislators who had expressed an interest in the deputy speaker’s job to step down in favour of Mr Oulanya.

But, convincing Muhammad Nsereko, a former NRM legislator for Kampala Central who turned rebel in the ninth parliament and is now an independent, was not an easy task. Mr Nsereko declined to step down and opted for the ballot where he polled 115 against Mr Oulanya’s 300 in a charged election.

READ: Uganda's Speaker and deputy retain positions in new Parliament

“We had to step down in favour of the two for the sake of the party’s cohesion,” said Hamson Obua, speaker of the NRM caucus. “The Central Executive Committee thought that if we all stood for the positions, NRM would be a divided house.”

Critics concur that cohesion between NRM legislators is critical as President Museveni will need it to have his way. 

“Decisions taken by MPs affect the interests of the Executive and so the Executive will always want the legislature to toe its line,” said Crispus Ayena Odongo, a lawyer and former MP. 

To begin with, there is talk of a move to remove the age limits for the president so that he can continue indefinitely, if he so wishes. With no indication that he is about to leave, let alone talks on succession, this is a likely scenario.

Under the current law, leaders of political organisations are supposed to retire after attaining the age of 75. President Museveni is 71, and by 2021, he will be above 75 years.

President Museveni has also been a lone caller for the removal of bail for some categories of offenders.

The vibrancy with which the ninth parliament started business, gave hope of its accountability to the people. For example, it brought to light the importance of the oil and gas sector when it exposed bribery claims against senior cabinet ministers. They also carefully scrutinised the budgets and sent back ministers who had not done a better job.

That vibrancy died with the mysterious death of outspoken woman MP for Butaleja Cerina Nebanda as many developed fears of being too critical of the Executive.  

“In my view a legislative arm in which the Executive is so intimate and interested in has no independence and so won’t be a custodian of democracy,” said Mr Ayena.

A combination of money and intimidation has worked effectively to keep previous parliament’s in check, their poor financial management coming in handy whenever money was dangled so that the Executive could have his way in the parliament.

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