KADAGA: I will never accept Vice President position

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga has declared that she will not accept the Vice President’s job as a compromise to give up her bid for speaker.

Kadaga is reportedly locked in a bitter battle with her deputy and NRM party colleague Jacob Oulanyah to retain her position as speaker after serving two terms since 2011.

The race for speaker has divided both the house and the party as both candidates are busy seeking endorsements from various groups and associations of MPs from across the country.

The NRM party with majority of representatives in the house will decide the next speaker when the vote takes place during the first sitting of the 11th Parliament in May.

Kadaga reveals that she has received an offer from some party members to be Vice President in the new Cabinet, but she says this is a position she will never accept since it is not a decision making role.

Kadaga’s announcement came as she was meeting with the Busoga elected members of parliament on Sunday at Hotel Africana in Kampala as she continues with campaigns to retain the post of the speaker.

The member of parliament for Iganga municipality Peter Mugema Panado and the MP for Luuka south county Stephen Kisa also said that as Busoga members of parliament, they are not interested in any other post in cabinet and they insist on retaining the post of the speaker of parliament.

Also declaring their interest in the position is Kira municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and Bukoto central MP Richard Ssebamala.

Kadaga also debunked an argument being peddled by her opponents who claim that the Busoga region does not deserve to be handed a prominent position in government because Busoga did not vote President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni overwhelmingly.

Presenting statistics to back her argument, she said that the Northern region has never voted overwhelmingly for the NRM except for the just concluded election, but added that they have always been represented in government.

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