Speaker Rebecca Kadaga on Thursday yet again pulled another political masterstroke when she trounced an internal combined opposition force backing her challenger Persis Namuganza to bounce back onto the Party’s Central Executive Committee ( CEC).
Namuganza-a junior lands minister reportedly had a number of big name party members behind her candidature, with party Secretary General Kasule Lumumba, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, Defence Minister Elly Tumwine all rumoured to be big architects for Kadaga’s defeat.
As for Ruth Nankabirwa, the party Chief Whip, she would courageously step forward to openly bad mouth Kadaga for reportedly associating with the hostile opposition to the detriment of her party.
“I am Nankabirwa and i am kindly requesting members to vote for Namuganza because we don’t want someone who is not straight. Namuganza will be able to work without betraying our party and our national Chairman. ” Nankabirwa appealed to NRM delegates.
The inclusion of the name of the President in Nankabirwa’s attack on Kadaga directly implicated Mr Museveni whose relationship with the speaker has been a rocky one over the last couple of months.
Additionally, Kadaga’s dismal performance in western Uganda where the President hails from being the only region she was defeated by Namuganza equally speaks volumes.
Even though the President had reportedly wanted to provide her woman- Kadaga with a way out of the Namuganza predicament, this was at a cost higher than what the speaker could afford.
With the Speakership at stake, Kadaga was ready to lose anything be it her position at CEC and this she demonstrated through the most expensive campaign of her entire political career.
For her defiance, Museveni must have wished to see some sense pumped into Kadaga only to shock him by jumping past all road blocks to finally land the desired destination.
Last week, while speaking to the delegates from her native Kamuli District, Kadaga lamented over a number of party big wigs convening constant meetings in the district to plot her defeat. Among them, she named former Prime Minister Mbabazi and Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa.
She also revealed that foreign gay funders were badly after her political life with insane amounts of money landing into the hands of her political rivals in a bid to avenge her opposition to homosexuality.
With her resounding victory, especially when it’s public knowledge that she was not the President’s preferred choice in the race, Kadaga could become a permanent reason for Museveni to fear.
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