President Yoweri Museveni last Thursday during the election of the Parliament’s Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, had a taste of how troublesome his government in this freshly commenced term is going to be.
This is according to the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), whose candidate Col Dr Kizza Besigye was runner-up in the February 2016 Presidential elections.
The party’s spokesperson Hon. Ibrahim Semujju Nganda says Museveni will have a hard time managing his new government and that he had a taste of this during his efforts to see Jacob Oulanyah reelected Deputy Speaker of the 10th Parliament.
“Is not commonplace to see such a young legislator as Hon Panadol stand up in the face of the President and nominate a candidate that he warned him against,” said Nganda in reference to the Iganga MP Peter Mugema alias Panadol who nominated Independent candidate Muhammad Nsereko who was running against the ruling party’s Oulanyah for Deputy Speaker.
Museveni ahead of the Thursday election exercise convened a meeting at State House Entebbe, in which he not only urged Nsereko to leave the race, but also warned the NRM MPs against voting for him when he insisted on running.
“I heard that the Parliament surveillance cameras captured the voting of the MPs and out of the 115 that voted Nsereko, 80 were from the NRM,” added Nganda while appearing on the weekly Capital Gang show this morning.
Nganda, who is also the Kira Municipality MP said that Museveni in his advancing age will have challenges trying to contain the growingly youthful government in the starting term, and that government transition at this stage will be rougher than if he had retired a few years ago.
He noted, “Age is not a simple thing, when you grow old you become senile and people are not afraid of you anymore and that’s what is happening with Museveni. He is now complaining time and again about young people in Entebbe. This transition is going to happen whether or not he likes. Unfortunately, when you choose to leave late, you may not be in full control of the transition.”
Nganda also swiped at the President, for personally attending the Thursday election exercise at Parliament, saying that this was a sign that he is losing control of his team.
“You come to think of it, if you are a parent and you send your child to buy a pineapple in the market, and you have to follow that child to pick the pineapple, what sort of a parent am you?
“He sat the MPs in Entebbe and told them to go vote Oulanyah, and then along the way he was not sure they would, and he had to drive to Parliament to ensure it happens, this has not happened in the politics of NRM for a very long time.”
Museveni after the election went in the favor of the NRM, congratulated the new Parliament saying that it had “passed the test.”