Thursday was a day which proved that the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga is a true political powerhouse after trouncing her nemesis Persis Namuganza in an intense race for the NRM second national vice-chairperson (female) seat.
Kadaga beat Junior lands minister by a margin of 2,894 votes.
By pulling 3,882 votes as a starter, Namuganza needs credit. However, the invisible forces that aligned behind her wanted a sure win, because that was going to open a clear room to start reducing Kadaga’s powers even in Parliament.
Meanwhile, one would ask why some big figures in the NRM party like Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa and Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa rallied behind Namuganza in the Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections against Uganda’s most powerful Woman- Kadaga.
Recently in the Whatsapp audio Nankabirwa revealed that she is tired of being humiliated by Kadaga whom she can’t avoid working with being the Government Chief Whip. She added that due to her post in Parliament, she has gone through a lot of hurdles including Kadaga abusing her regularly and disrespecting her like a toddler.
Nankabirwa pined Kadaga of being a surrogate for the opposition. She says that Kadaga changes colour like a chameleon and can’t be trusted with the party’s business anymore.
Other sources revealed to this website that Kutesa has for a very long time considered Kadaga as an unhelpful figure on the NRM CEC whenever it comes to executing parties agendas especially at the floor of the parliament.
One of the cadres from team Kadaga who preferred anonymity, said that since 2011, Kutesa has always had battles with Kadaga. Their differences were sparked off when Kadaga allowed Ntungamo Municipality lawmaker Gerald Karuhanga to use the floor of Parliament to pin Kutesa of coercing bribes from oil companies.
Another source also revealed that Kadaga and Kutesa have had bad blood since the day she discovered that the latter was against her Speakership in 2011.
According to political observers, for Kutesa who is not returning to elective politics come 2021, may not be Kadaga’s target for a pay back but to Nankabirwa it will the Party leader to intervene and settle their disputes if NRM is to gain anything from the next Parliament.
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