As the country mourns the death of Jacob Oulanyah, the late speaker of Parliament, the constitution dictates that before any business is carried out in Parliament, MPs must elect a speaker first if the office is vacant.
Even before Oulanyah is buried, there are whispers that some MPs are readying to replace them. So who will replace Oulanyah? Canary Mugume looks at potential candidates.
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Anita Among
The current Deputy Speaker and Woman MP Bukedea district has been holding forte for Jacob Oualnyah as he sought for treatment abroad. She has presided over a number of bills that have been passed and at some point she has presided over controversial sittings like the censure of Mityana municipality Francis Zaake, which that have split the house.
Among has already shown her abilities to run the House single handedly as her boss was away in hospital since November last year. Some MPs insist that Among needs more time as deputy speaker to learn how to conduct business in the House. She was criticised over her handling of the Zaake issue and some argued that had it been Oulanyah, he would have handled the matter in a more mature way without allowing emotions to take over.
Rebecca Kadaga
Kadaga is the First Deputy Prime Minister and served as speaker for 10 years between 2011 and 2021. She lost the seat to Oulanyah after a bitter election in May 2021. There are reports that she could be interested in the position again but this would put her in a tight position.
First she would have to resign her cabinet post but most importantly she is unlikely to garner the support of the top organs of the NRM given the fact that the party did not back her last time round.
Thomas Tayebwa
Tayebwa is the current Government Chief Whip and MP, Ruhinda County North. Tayebwa has shown interest before in the speakership seat, when he ran against Anita Among for deputy speaker and later pulled out at the urging of the party leadership led by the chairman Yoweri Museveni.
Tayebwa was talked out of the race and handed a ministerial position; Government Chief Whip which MPs say he has executed well. The President has also shown confidence in his whipping roles. During the elections, the race was tight between Tayebwa and Among.
However, the constitution dictates that no person shall be qualified to be elected as speaker if they hold a cabinet post. This means that Tayebwa will have to resign his position from government.
Jacob Oboth Oboth
He is the current Minister of State for Defence ( General Duties) and MP, West Budama. This is Jacob Oboth Oboth’s first time as minister, and is said to have been rewarded for chairing the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee that recommended for the lifting of age limit which paved way for President Museveni to contest again. Jacob Oboth Oboth is considered a good cadre. But like Tayebwa, Oboth will have to resign too, first.
Abdul Katuntu
His is a very long shot but who knows? Katuntu, quit the opposition before he contested again as MP in 2021. He’s been rumoured to be working with NRM, and he recently led an investigation in the Rules, Privileges and Discipline committee that queried MP Zaake’s conduct.
The committee under his leadership recommended that Zaake should apologise to Parliament. With this, MPs in NRM say Katuntu earned himself a place in the good books of NRM. However, Katuntu is an independent MP. It is uncertain whether NRM top organs like CEC would endorse him for speakership. NRM MPs say Katuntu is not trusted yet.
All said and done, whoever wins the speakership race will have to get the full endorsement of the NRM and particularly President Museveni for the sole reason that the ruling party has the numbers.
While the opposition will most likely field candidates, like they did with Ssemujju Nganda, their chances of winning the coveted post are close to non existent.