Museveni summons NRM caucus

A notice for the meeting issued by the caucus chairperson, who is also the government chief whip, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, stated that the meeting will discuss matters of national importance.

“This is to invite you for a caucus meeting scheduled to take place on Wednesday March 16 at 2pm. Kololo Ceremonial Grounds. The purpose of this meeting is to interact with His Excellency the President and chairman of the NRM Party on matters of national importance,”  Mr Tayebwa said.

“All members are required to undertake a Covid test… Only members who will have taken the test with the prescribed service provider at the parliamentary conference hall will attend,” he added.

It is not clear what issues the caucus will handle, but sources told this newspaper that government is proposing a number of laws, and Mr Museveni may be meeting the caucus to build consensus to defend government positions when the proposed laws are presented.

“When the President wants to bring something to Parliament, he first meets the caucus to brief them. I think this is one of the issues, though we have not been briefed on which proposed laws are coming up,” the source said.

Currently, there are a number of bills at different stages being processed by the Parliament. 

These include The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Supplementary Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2021, Fisheries and Acquaculture Bill, 2021, among others.

Another source said the issue of fourth coming East African Legislative Assembly elections could be on the table. Election for the EALA members is slated for this year and already different parties are jostling for the few positions. Out of 9 members, NRM has always allocated itself the majority numbers while the opposition parties fight for the few remaining slots.

The source told this newspaper that a number of candidates have shown interests and a decision will be made at a later time.

“We may also handle the issue of the EALA. Other parties have already elected their candidates but for us we are yet to make a decision so I think that could be one of the issues to talk about,” the source said. Among the Opposition members, the NRM seems to have already endorsed the Democratic Party candidate, Mr Gerald Siranda, for one of the seats. 

A week ago, the government Chief Whip hosted Mr Siranda in his office and congratulated him for being chosen.

“My brother Gerald Siranda thank you for checking on me last evening. Congratulations on being chosen as the DP Secretariat candidate for EALA,” Mr Tayebwa tweeted after their meeting.

We were unable to get comments from Mr Alex Brandon Kintu, the caucus spokesperson, because his known mobile phone number was switched off by press time.