Kadaga praises Oulanyah as hard-working Speaker
Former Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, pays respect to her successor, the late Jacob Oulanyah, at Parliament on March 30, 2022. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The former Speaker spent less than 30 minutes at Parliament as she signed the condolence book, eulogised Oulanyah and immediately exited the building.
Former Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga yesterday made her first appearance at Parliament in 10 months to pay homage to her successor former Speaker of the 11th Parliament Jacob Oulanyah.
Oulanyah, who lost his battle to cancer in a Seattle-based hospital, had served as Speaker for nine months.
After a heated campaign process for the Speakership position that climaxed with the election of the fallen Oulanyah at Kololo in mid last year, Ms Kadaga, also Woman MP for Kamuli District, had kept away from the precincts of Parliament.
Ms Kadaga has also never attended any committee sessions since the 11th Parliament leadership assumed office.
However, the former Speaker returned more than a week since the demise and replacement of her immediate successor Oulanyah.
The deceased was last week formally replaced by his former deputy Anita Among. Mr Thomas Tayebwa, who was the Government Chief Whip, replaced Ms Among as the new deputy Speaker.
She also attended the elections last Friday in a sitting convened at Kololo to vote for Speaker and deputy Speaker.
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At 12:15pm yesterday with a fair number of security personnel, the first deputy prime minister and minister for East African Affairs, touched base at Parliament to pay tribute to the late Oulanyah.
Ms Kadaga eulogised Oulanyah as a studious and hardworking legislator.
“I would say that we already miss him. He was studious and he liked doing research and he enjoyed his work and he was committed to it,” she said.
Ms Kadaga lauded Oulanyah for his contribution towards the growth of the country, adding that he was an epitome of unity in northern Uganda.
“I have thanked him for the 10 years I worked with him. I appreciated him for the work we worked on, both national and international matters as well as what he did for us within the NRM party,” Ms Kadaga said.
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After the 2016 General Election, Ms Kadaga and her deputy Oulanyah, couldn’t see eye-to-eye after a bitter contest for the country’s third most coveted office.
It took the intervention of the President to reconcile the duo and after the meeting with the President, the leaders returned from the ruling party caucus, ‘holding hands’ and later shared a dance floor at a celebration.
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Before reconciliation at State House, the President, according to sources met Kadaga and Oulanyah and grilled them for washing their dirty linen in public.
They later apologised and accepted to work together as members of the NRM family. The ceasefire, however, lasted a few years.
Later after the 2021 General Election, Ms Kadaga sought re-election as an Independent candidate after being dropped by the National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s top organ, the Central Executive Committee (CEC), in favour of the Omoro County MP, who was her former deputy. Ms Kadaga polled 197 votes against Oulanyah’s 310.
She was welcomed by the chairperson of the Busoga caucus in Parliament, Mr Maurice Kibaalya (Bugabula County), Mr Paul Akamba (Busiki County) and the Buzaaya County MP, Mr Martin Muzaale.
Ms Kadaga, however, declined to comment on the current leadership of Parliament as she only restricted herself to the condolence message.
When asked to comment on the state of affairs in the 10th Parliament and its leadership, Ms Kadaga said: “I will not talk about it [current Parliament].”
The former Speaker spent less than 30 minutes at Parliament as she signed the condolence book, eulogised Oulanyah and immediately exited the building.
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The head of the women’s league in the Democratic Party (DP), Ms Aisha Waligo, praised Oulanyah for his support towards the women in the country.
Ms Waligo said: “We actually looked at him as a male champion because matters of women were always priority on his desk.”
The former Speaker’s body is expected to jet into the country tomorrow aboard Ethiopian Airlines.
