HON. OULANYAH, THE “CONTINGENCY PLAN” AS KADAGA LEADS FROM BEHIND

Early last week, Ugandans watched on as the controversial Public Order Management Bill was passed by an NRM dominated parliament amidst flaring tempers from the Opposition Members. Plenary chaired by Jacob Oulanyah, the deputy speaker of the house was objected to by minority opposition voices which he ignored and hurriedly passed the bill without listening. Despite all Opposition protests, Deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi announced to the house that the bill had been passed, only waiting presidential assent to become law.

However, what was amusing was the fact that two Order Papers were circulating in the house, one having the Public Order Management Bill and the other without. The one with the bill was reportedly agreed upon following an impromptu meeting in the Speaker’s boardroom with the Prime Minister and a host of other top NRM ministers that appear to have put pressure on the speaker to reverse her earlier agreement with the opposition not to include the bill on the order paper citing risen tempers in parliament as the reason.

She had a lot of support when she contested for Speaker because many MPs across the political divide seemed to believe in her credibility having served as deputy speaker in the 7^th and 8^th parliament. However, it seems that it is this same credibility that made the NRM top shots uncomfortable especially with her enjoying support from both NRM and Opposition members. They didn’t trust her to be loyal to the party and safeguard their interests all the way. Being the fast thinkers, they imposed on the House, a “contingency plan” in the names of Jacob Oulanyah to be deputy speaker.

This is a man who entered politics in 2001, to a winning start taking the “Omoro county” parliamentary seat in Gulu district on a Uganda People's Congress (UPC) ticket. Before his first term in parliament ended, he chaired the parliamentary legal committee that recommended the constitutional amendments which lifted the presidential term limits in 2005. This probably came to haunt him the following year despite taking part in LRA peace talks. He lost the bid for re-election to the 8^th parliament in 2006 as a UPC candidate. In July 2006, he quit the UPC political party and joined the National Resistance Movement (NRM) political party which seemingly earned him his seat back in parliament in the 9^th parliament.

This is why I think this man feels like he owes the NRM a big favour, and they know it. They don’t hesitate to use it to their advantage. A section of MPs claim that Mr. Oulanyah is trying to obtain acceptance and approval from the president when he decides to vie for Speaker of the house. Well, personally, I would not have a problem with Mr. Oulanyah settling his scores if he didn’t do it using the country’s interests and future in making ridiculous laws.

My issue with Madame Speaker is letting Oulanyah do it in what seems like a well thought out plan to keep her reputation intact and having Mr. Oulanyah do her dirty work. She is highly respected having put her foot down in her first year in the speaker’s docket, impressing many, she ranked 3^rd in possible successors of president Museveni. She conveniently refused to comment on this debate as well as allegations of a power struggle between her and the Prime Minister.

All was well until her convenient absence from the House when controversial issues were being discussed and unconstitutional bills being bulldozed through parliament became evident. From the approval of a Minister of Lands that didn’t have sufficient qualifications, to passing Oil Bills that were clearly inconsiderate of the public interest, and the most recent Public Order Management Bill. It seems to me that whenever such controversial issues appear on the order paper, the speaker has a workshop, a meeting with her constituents or is just simply absent.

The speaker looking on last week as two different order papers were circulated in parliament, with one type for the opposition and another for the ruling party, in clear contravention of parliamentary rules of procedure that she is supposed to offer custody, was the last straw. This was all because she could not manage to hold off the NRM ministers that stormed her board room a few hours before the plenary session chaired by her deputy, that would turn out to be a disgrace to a House Ugandans hold in very high regard. The conduct we saw in the House can be attributed to many things. It could be frustration out of a feeling of helplessness by opposition MPs with inability to stop a clearly unconstitutional law or it could be politics to earn a shot from the media cameras. Whatever it was, it disgraced Parliament.

All this could be speculation. But one thing is for sure: Madame Speaker cannot continue to lead from behind. She must come back, announce her presence and put the house in order. And that is not a responsibility she can entrust with her allegedly biased and serial procedure-flouting “contingency plan”.

The writer is a socio-political commentator and Blogger

Twitter: @PathyKlinn