The highly secretive meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and Speaker Rebecca Kadaga early this week has deservingly sent tongues wagging.
Museveni, on Tuesday invited Kadaga to his country farm in Kisozi, Gomba where they had a highly classified two hour meeting whose content remain a top secret up to now.
Eventhough neither the President nor Kadaga has come out to share the content of the highly suspicious deliberations in Kisozi, it’s highly suspected that the issue of the Speakership was key on the agenda.
Kadaga is involved in a do or die battle to retain her position, with her deputy Jacob Oulanyah relentlessly vowing to drag on to the very last minute.
The matter had graduated into a bitter war with accusations and counter accusations between the two principals. This necessitated the NRM Party Chairman’s intervention who suspended the campaigns untill further notice.
In the meeting at State House Enteebe about a fortnight ago, Museveni is reported to have castigated his two cadres for showing seeds of division within the party that were, according to him throwing it in disrepute.
The Tuesday meeting in Kisozi thus comes as a relief to the Kadaga backers whose candidate has been portrayed as lacking Museveni’s blessings in the race, and a big blow to Mr Oulanyah whose mobilisation for the Speakership is strongly developed on an assertion that he alone will be favored at the Central Executive Committee due to the perceived communication imbalance between his nemesis and Museveni.
From Kisozi, Kadaga, in a joyous mood has clandestinely gone on with her mobilisation, a fact that suggests her candidature was okayed.
In the past, the Speaker has occasionally clashed with Museveni but they have always found a way of resolving their differences.
While on a campaign trail in Kamuli in November last year, Museveni downplayed reports he sharply conflicted with Kadaga, insisting these were rumours being fueled by enemies of unity.
He clearly stated that the two had sat and resolved all their outstanding differences and that he saw no reason why he would fail to agree with Kadaga yet he had on previous occasions mended fences with former allies, particularly naming former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and late Eriya Kategaya.
It ought to be remembered that the decision on who gets the party’s endorsement for the Speakership will be made by the Central Executive Committee which is expected to convene later this month.
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