West Nile leaders ask Speaker Oulanyah to solicit for cabinet job for their region

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | NRM MPs and leaders in W. Nile have asked Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament and also the NRM Vice Chairperson for Northern region to lobby for a Cabinet position for the region.

Since NRM took over in 1986 and after the 1996 general elections, West Nile region has only had one key position in government for First Deputy Prime Minister, occupied by Gen. Moses Ali, which has since dropped to Second Deputy Prime Minister.

The NRM leaders made their plea to Jacob Oulanyah at Tropical Suites Hotel in Arua town during a meeting with NRM MPs, LC5’s, Chairpersons, Administrative Secretaries, RDCs and Districts Security Heads.

The over five hour-meeting was the first organized for W. Nile since the August 2020 NRM National and Regional elections were held. Lillian Obiale, the Woman MP for Arua district said the fact that in the last elections NRM got the highest votes ever requires that the region to be rewarded with Cabinet positions.

According to MP Obiale, the State Minister position West Nile cannot impact on final development issues.

Dr. George Boka, the MP for Obongi County explained that West Nile has over 3 million votes which should be used to meet the interests of the region and these include having a full cabinet position to make key decisions on issues of the region.

Joyce Amaguru, the NRM chairperson for Arua city said in the last elections they fought hard to ensure that the President got overwhelming votes and also voted all NRM aspirants into Parliament, the reason they are demanding for Cabinet positions from the President for MPs in West Nile .

Jacob Oulanyah, the Vice-Chairperson NRM Northern region and also Speaker of Parliament assured the people of W. Nile that he will use his position as Central Executive Member to lobby for key government positions for the people of W. Nile.

According to the NRM leaders, the region deserves at least two cabinet positions in addition to being given positions as Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners, and Directors of government parastatals, which would put W. Nile on a fair share at the plate of the National cake.

The meeting was however out of bounds to the media, owing to the bluntness of the discussions. Media later benefitted from a post-meeting press briefing.

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URN