Kadaga, Oulanyah are like two bald men fighting over a comb

So, is the vice presidency a nothing job or is there any meat to the bone? It’s a complicated question because we are talking a position where you could come from being an idler to the most powerful person in the country. Consider that in just this week, one woman in Tanzania, made history when she ascended from it to the presidency – being the first ever in her country to; and yet in neighbouring Uganda, another woman has vehemently made it clear she will not accept the position – even if nobody knows for sure if it has even been offered.

The problem with the vice presidency is that you don’t want to waste your best soldier(s) in the position. So, you find someone who will attend birthday parties, burials and church fundraisers that you are unable to go to. The current placeholder is the perfect fit for the shadow president job, considering how he is a man more forgotten about than not. Age and political fortune have ensured that his odds to retain the job are anything but high, and he will be content enjoying his retirement package at Pope Paul Memorial.

Having controlled a budget and had Members of Parliament groveling at her feet for favours, the current Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Rebecca Kadaga, has gone for broke. Never mind the fact that constitutionally, the vice presidency would put her a heartbeat away from actual power, were the office to be unceremoniously vacated.

So, out of sheer impudence and need to hold on to power and the perks of office, she has created headaches for nearly every player looking at the political chessboard. First, is her current deputy, Jacob Oulanyah, who has been waiting in the wings for 10 years and now wants his turn on the levers. Having shown his hand, he will likely lose more in the long term, were he to back down at this moment. Next in the bind, is the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement. They have to decide whether to let the two protagonists go at each other – and risk a public fallout especially if Kadaga were to lose; or ask one of them to let it go in exchange for a position without power and budget; or even order them to stay put and risk a hung house with side-eyes and counter-schemes.

Then, enter the women and gender activists. in trying to square this circle. They have spent the last couple of years – and make a living out of – railing against President Museveni’s iron grip on power and Parliament’s inability to pass progressive laws. Now, they have to go back on their agenda and try to square the circle, because they want Kadaga to stay, for the simple reason that she is a woman. Forget the contradiction of it, considering she has publicly chest thumped about her role in keeping Museveni in power; and has, for 10 years, presided over the circus across the National Theatre.

Same for the opposition, all of whom won on the back of incumbency fatigue and reawakening from institutional capture and personalization, corruption, inefficacy, rights abuses and government excesses. What would their promised change be, if they voted for either of the two leading candidates? Conundrum.

Meanwhile, there’s just one office with actual power to improve livelihoods and the quality of life, bring dignity to the citizenry and mend the brokenness – but that’s not what this fight is about!

Mr Rukwengye is the founder, Boundless Minds. [email protected]