{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Quit NRM, Busoga MPs tell Kadaga

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/43967-quit-nrm-busoga-mps-tell-kadaga

Quit NRM, Busoga MPs tell Kadaga

Written by LAWRENCE MISEGE

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga

With just weeks left to the May 19 vote for the speaker of the 10th parliament, the two-horse race between incumbent Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga and her deputy Jacob Oulanyah continues to draw new support and opposition.

On Wednesday, a section of new MPs from Kadaga's home region of Busoga vowed to persuade her to quit the NRM party primaries and stand as an independent. 

In a bid to show solidarity, the group of 34 MPs led by Buzaaya county MP-elect Isaac Musumba met Raphael Magyezi, the chairman of the Kadaga taskforce at parliament. During the meeting, the Busoga MPs said they cannot let Kadaga be suffocated by a group of individuals in NRM for their selfish interests. 

"We cannot just sit back and see our own, being pushed to the wall, I and my colleagues, we have agreed to talk to her [Kadaga] to stand on an independent ticket, because according to what is going on, she may not get fairness in the NRM primaries," Luuka MP John Bosco Bagoole told The Observer in a separate interview after the meeting.

Namutumba Woman MP-elect Mariam Naigaga said Busoga MPs can't just let go of Kadaga: "Whenever there is competition, there are many good candidates who come on board but among those good candidates, there is one who is the best and this time, we look at Kadaga as the best candidate; so, we cannot let her go." 

In a separate interview, one MP who declined to be named for fear of victimization, said people in Busoga are disappointed with President Museveni for not talking to Oulanyah to drop his bid.

Kalungu West MP Gonzaga Ssewungu, a member of Kadaga's taskforce, told The Observer recently that opposition supporters plan to talk to Kadaga to stand as an independent candidate if she is dropped by her party. 

Dr Tanga Odoi, the chairman of the NRM electoral commission, said the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) resolved on Monday, April 25 that no candidate would be allowed to stand as an independent in case he/she is defeated in the party primaries. 

Kadaga has loudly voiced her disappointment and frustration at being challenged by her deputy and at the party's silence. Kadaga said that in other democracies, once an incumbent speaker expresses interest in retaining his/her seat, the race ends at that. 

10 DEFECT TO OULANYAH 

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Oulanyah taskforce, Godfrey Suubi Kiwanda, told The Observer yesterday that more than 10 supporters of Kadaga have defected to Oulanyah's camp. "They came to deputy speaker's office on Wednesday morning and said they were misled. Many are still coming but we don't want to mention names," he said.

Some of the MPs who decamped from Kadaga include Simeo Nsubuga, MP-elect for Kassanda South. In his message on the Buganda caucus MPs' WhatsApp account, Nsubuga said: "As an NRM member, and a strong supporter of my party chairman, who also won the election petition in court, I cannot join a group of people who wants to block him from swearing in." 

The people he claims want to stop Museveni's inauguration include Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda (FDC), Gonzaga Ssewungu (DP), Betty Nambooze Bakireke (DP) and other opposition figures, who are on Kadaga's taskforce.

Quit NRM, Busoga MPs tell Kadaga

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/43967-quit-nrm-busoga-mps-tell-kadaga

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