The National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Central Executive Committee-CEC on Sunday endorsed Jacob Oulanyah as the ruling party candidate for Speakership of the 11th Parliament.
The development comes as a shock to Rebecca Kadaga who has been Speaker for 10 years.
On Saturday, while at State House Entebbe, CEC failed to choose between Kadaga and Oulanyah until today when members conclusively decided to dump the former Speaker in favour of her former deputy.
The decision of CEC , which President Museveni chairs in his capacity as NRM national chairman is important because it is likely to influence the choice of the ruling party’s caucus that sits today.
The caucus is not obliged to endorse CEC’s recommendation, although it has done so in previous Speaker and deputy Speaker races in past Parliaments.
The CEC meeting has proved that it has maintained their reported 2016 agreement to support Oulanyah for Speaker of the 11th Parliament after Kadaga served two terms to match that of her predecessor Edward Ssekandi,who was in 2011 elevated to vice president.
However, while picking expression of interest forms for the position at the NRM headquarters on Kyadondo Road in Kampala on May 19, Kadaga told off CEC that they have no capability to choose Speaker for Parliament.
She said it would be undemocratic for the CEC to sit five years early and say that in five years’ time so and so will be our Speaker of Speaker.
“Why don’t we do that for the president? Every five years he comes and says there is an election. What do we do?
“So you can’t come and say for us (CEC) we decided on the speakership five years ago. Are you deciding for us like the way cattle are herded?” Kadaga charged.
The election of Speaker/Deputy Speaker is slated for 24 May, 2021.
10 facts about Jacob Oulanyah:
1. Oulanyah was born in the then Gulu District, on 23 March 1965. He attended St. Joseph’s College Layibi, Dr. Obote College Boroboro, and Kololo Senior Secondary School for his O-Level and A-Level education.
2. In 1988, he joined Makerere University, where he studied agricultural economics. He graduated in 1991 with a Bachelors degree of Arts in that subject.
3. That same year, he entered law school, also at Makerere University, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He served as speaker of the university students’ guild during his stay at Makerere. In 1995, he attended the Law Development Centre (LDC), where he obtained a postgraduate diploma in legal practice.
4. Following his graduation from the LDC, Oulanyah worked as a lecturer at the centre. During the same timeframe, he began private law practice at the law firm of Oulanyah, Onoria & Company Advocates.
5.In 2001, he entered politics by successfully contesting for the parliamentary seat of Omoro County, the then Gulu District under the no-party system also known as the Movement Political System. He was however a cardholder of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).
6.He also participated in the peace talks between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
7.In 2006, standing as a UPC candidate, he lost his re-election bid. In July 2006, he quit the UPC and joined the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM). In 2008 he served as the chairman of the commission of inquiry into the controversial sub-lease of Kisekka Market, one of the markets in the city of Kampala.
8.In March 2011, Oulanyah was elected to represent Omoro County then in Gulu District, in the Ninth Parliament, this time on the NRM ticket. He was elected as Deputy Speaker of Parliament on 19 May 2011.
9.Following the February 2016 general election, Oulanyah was re-elected as Deputy Speaker of Parliament on 19 May 2016. In the vote, conducted by secret ballot, he received 300 votes, while Mohammed Nsereko received 115. On 13 July 2019, Oulanyah was awarded a honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Zoe Life Theological College USA and acquired the title, Doctor enabling him be called Rt. Hon. Dr. Jacob L. Oulanyah.
10. Besides his duties as Deputy Speaker of Parliament, he sits on the following parliamentary committees: Appointments Committee – The Committee reviews all Cabinet appointments by the President and may approve or reject an appointment: The Deputy Speaker is the vice chairperson of that committee.
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