FDC to meet its elected MPs over speakership race

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Forum for Democratic Change-FDC is set to meet Members of Parliament who were elected on the party ticket to discuss, among other things, the candidates it will support in the parliamentary speakership race. 

John Kikonyogo, the deputy party spokesperson said that although there are two people who have expressed interest in contesting for the office of speaker and deputy speaker respectively, the party is yet to agree on a candidate they will be supporting. Kikonyogo said the role of choosing the party flagbearers is solely vested in the hands of the party Electoral Commission led by Toterebuka Bamwenda. 

Kikonyogo said as of now, only Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the MP for Kira municipality and Yusuf Nsibambi, the MP-elect for Mawokota South have indicated a desire to contest for speaker and deputy speaker’s seat respectively.

Kikoyogo also dismissed as false, media reports that the party president Patrick Amuriat Oboi doesn’t support Ssemujju who is also the opposition chief whip to contest for the office of the speaker. It was said that instead, Amuriat wants Tororo North MP-elect Geoffrey Ekanya to be the one to challenge Kadaga for the office of the speaker. 

Ssemujju, the stories added, has a very cosy relationship with the Alliance for National Transformation-ANT, an offshoot of the FDC. He for instance was a campaign manager for Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu while he contested for the FDC presidency in 2017. When he lost, he decided to form his own political party, ANT arguing that staying in FDC had become untenable. 

But despite this, Kikonyogo said Amuriat has never made such claims which he termed as malicious. 

So far, four other candidates have expressed interest in contesting for the office of the speaker of parliament. These include; the current speaker and deputy speaker, Rebecca Kadaga and Jacob Oulanyah. Others are NRM’s Juliet Kinyamatama and Democratic Party’s Richard Ssebamala. 

On the other hand, five people have expressed interest in replacing Oulanyah as deputy speaker. These include Anita Among, David Bahati , Robinah Rwakojo , Muhammad Nsereko , Jacob Oboth Oboth [ West Budama South] and Thomas Tayeebwa . 

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