Unyielding supporters of outgoing Speaker Rebecca Kadaga say her name will appear on the ballot tomorrow as the 11th Parliament convenes for the first time since the January 14 elections to vote Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
Even though the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting deferred declaring who they preferred last night, the Kadaga camp appeared resolute and had no kind words for those asking her to step down for Mr Jacob Oulanyah, her rival for the post.
With or without the blessing of the NRM party organs, the MPs backing Ms Kadaga vowed to defy CEC and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ruling party.
Mr Asuman Basalirwa, who heads Ms. Kadaga’s media campaign team yesterday said that the job of Speaker and Ms Kadaga’s support are matters too big to be determined by a small group of people.
“The decisive battle will be fought on the floor of Parliament. That has been decided.
We decided so because our support outside CEC is too big to be subdued at that level. Nobody should deceive you that it is a battle to end in [State House] Entebbe. It must end on the floor of Parliament,” Mr Basalirwa told local daily newspaper on Saturday afternoon.
Mr Basalirwa is the president of the opposition Jeema party and MP for Bugiri Municipality.
Mr Gilbert Olanya, the MP for Kilak South (FDC), who spearheads Ms Kadaga’s campaign team in the Acholi sub-region, said the decisions of CEC and the parliamentary caucus are of no consequence to the non-NRM members who support Ms Kadaga’ candidature.
“For us in the Opposition, the position of CEC and the caucus is not important, the most important as far as we are concerned is the stand that she will take from Entebbe. The most important part here is the floor of Parliament,” Mr Gilbert Olanya told Sunday Monitor.
Both Mr Basalirwa and Mr Olanya were speaking as the CEC meeting was going on.
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