{UAH} Kadaga and the perils of serving a rogue regime
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Kadaga and the perils of serving a rogue regime
Saturday May 29 2021
Author, Moses Khisa. PHOTO/FILE
Summary
- Like many others who otherwise diligently served a regime of rule that has become increasingly roguish, and is now all about one man's insatiable thirst for power, Kadaga deservedly got thrown under the bus.
Rebecca A. Kadaga served as Deputy Speaker and later Speaker of Uganda's Parliament for a total of two decades. That is a greater majority of the 35 year-period that Museveni has ruled Uganda. She has been MP for more than three decades.
Kadaga has been a key player and central figure in much of what has gone wrong with our politics. In fact, arguably, it is her that did the most in facilitating the entrenchment of a life presidency in Uganda. She was Deputy Speaker in 2005 when term limits were dubiously scrapped from the Constitution and, as Speaker, she superintended removal of the age-limit provision in 2017.
Strangely and shockingly, some actors including Opposition MPs thought of her very positively and construed her as a better choice to lead theLegislative branch of government than Museveni's chosen and anointed hatchet man, Mr Jacob Oulanyah.
To think that Kadaga is better than Oulanyah, in leading Parliament for the good of Ugandans and not for the service of the ruler, is to be either naïve or dishonest. Where we have reached now, it scarcely matters who is Speaker of Parliament. Perhaps a notable difference between Oulanyah and Kadaga is that the latter is good at pretending, the former is straight at serving the master.
Throughout her time at the helm of Parliament, Kadaga was always little more than Museveni's puppet. She did the bidding of Sabalwanyi and almost never stood her ground when it truly mattered.
On only a few occasions, like during the controversy over the death of MP Celina Nebanda (although she actually caved in on this), in the course of heated debates on oil corruption allegations (this really never went anywhere far) and in the case of the expulsion of so called rebel MPs; Kadaga displayed some superfluous spine and a seemingly forceful pushback against excesses of the Executive.
For the most part, however, Kadaga was a pliant Speaker. It was under her two decades at the helm that Uganda's Parliament dramatically drifted from a relatively respected and independent national institution it was, under Speakers James Wapakhabulo and Francis Ayume, to the shambolic bazar and absurd theatre that it has become.
The sheer desecration of Parliament and its emasculation at the hands of an evidently imperial president became fully manifest on Kadaga's watch. No other person is more culpable for what has happened to Parliament.
In the early years of her reign as Speaker, 2011-2013, Kadaga put up some show that excited many and misled others to think she was national leadership material, a potential president in the offering. I too fell for the mirage. How wrong.
Kadaga was not just the third in the State hierarchy, as Speaker of Parliament, since 2005 she has also held the third place in the pecking order of the ruling NRM party, for what it is worth as a credible organisation.
From that vantage point, one would have expected Kadaga to work to be President of Uganda and not be a mere accessory to a life presidency.
Petty and petulant, vindictive on very tiny matters and quite authoritarian is the exercise of power, which in any case was only subtracted to her by the ruler himself, Kadaga goes down with a soiled legacy and a despicable record. The status and standing of Parliament is at its lowest ever, and it was under her leadership that Parliament took a turn for the worse.
What is more, holding a parliamentary seat on affirmative action for a record 31 years, she still could not help but harken back to the gender card. Worse, rather than aspire to lead the nation and provide a much needed alternative to the decayed rule of Mr Museveni, Kadaga often felt content projecting herself as the 'queen' of Busoga with a hold on Parliament.
Like many others who otherwise diligently served a regime of rule that has become increasingly roguish, and is now all about one man's insatiable thirst for power, Kadaga deservedly got thrown under the bus. Hers was a very predictable, if a little ignominious, ending and nothing out of the ordinary.
It is the kind of ending and humiliation that is expected in servicing a rulership like Museveni's. The enigmatic Gen David Sejusa put it quite laconically: it is the occupational hazard of serving a dictatorship!
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