Mbale, Uganda: The Bugisu Cultural Institution has dismissed claims that the Umukuka of Bugisu, His Highness Jude Mike Mudoma III, has endorsed any Member of Parliament from the region for the positions of Speaker or Deputy Speaker of Parliament, describing such reports as false and misleading.
Speaking to DailyExpress in a phone conversation regarding the circulating claims, Bugisu Cultural Institution spokesperson Steven Masiga said Umukuka has neither endorsed nor mobilised support for any candidate in the ongoing speakership contest.
Quoting the legal maxim nemo dat quod habet, meaning one cannot give what they do not have, Masiga said the Umukuka lacks the authority to endorse candidates for Speaker or Deputy Speaker because such powers are purely political.
“The election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker is a political process. As a cultural institution, we are not clothed with the mandate to determine or influence that process,” Masiga said, adding that the Umukuka is not a Member of Parliament and therefore cannot participate in parliamentary leadership contests.
Masiga stressed that cultural institutions are constitutionally restrained from engaging in partisan politics, citing the Ugandan Constitution and the Institution of Traditional and Cultural Leaders Act (Cap 242), which bar traditional leaders from participating in or influencing political outcomes.
“We exist as a cultural institution. These processes are purely political, and cultural institutions are flatly restrained and forbidden from participating in them,” he said.
He clarified that while the institution works closely with the government to ensure that people from Bugisu are well-positioned nationally, such engagement is limited to non-parliamentary appointments.
“The best the Umukuka can do is lobby for ministerial positions and other government jobs for his people, but not to drum up support for any Umumasaba for Speaker or Deputy Speaker,” Masiga said.
He added that the institution does not discourage any individual from Bugisu from contesting for the speakership or deputy speakership, but emphasised that outcomes of such races remain solely within the political arena.
The clarification follows recent media interviews and reports suggesting that the Bugisu Cultural Institution was promoting certain MPs from Bugisu for the Deputy Speaker slot, claims Masiga categorically denied.
“Whereas we wish well any Umumasaba who wants to contest for Speaker or Deputy Speaker, we do not have the power to influence the outcome,” he said.
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