Uganda’s number three finds herself caught in the eye of the global coronavirus pandemic storm, that continues to ravage nations and impact lives in unprecedented ways.
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga will live to remember 2020 where she finds herself plunged in murky political waters, struggling to keep her clean name and political legacy, gained over the years.
Coronavirus threatens to flatten a political curve the Kamuli lawmaker and ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party heavyweight has drawn with glowing admiration across the country.
DETAILS
It should be remembered that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Kadaga was the envy of many a Ugandan especially those hoping to pursue political careers.
However, in the past one month or so, Kadaga has become fodder for Uganda’s political analysts and citizens alike over her handling of the controversial shs10bn allocated to MPs to fight the spread of COVID-19.
A couple of weeks ago, parliament passed a supplementary budget to help the government deal with the spread of coronavirus.
The country has 89 cases with 52 recoveries, so far.
As part of the package, parliament also included shs10bn to be given to the 415 lawmakers who according to the August House, were to participate in the various districts’ task forces created to fight the spread of the disease.
This decision drew fury from the public, with many branding the MPs selfish and some wondering why they chose to take the money when their colleagues across the globe were taking pay cuts, instead.
Every MP was allocated shs20m and the money subsequently deposited on their accounts, amidst a court injunction against the contentious ‘gift’.
Despite some MPs including popular Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine opting to refund the money, and sensing that its passing had struck a bad code with the public, Kadaga still stood her ground, claiming the money would be used by MPs at the district task forces.
However, this did little to calm the tempers of a Ugandan public already burdened by a lockdown.
And as if to further put more nails in the political coffin of the parliamentarians including Kadaga, President Yoweri Museveni distanced himself from anything to do with the money, noting that it was morally wrong for the MPs to pocket the cash when the country faced uncertain economic times.
This was very uncharacteristic of the president, seeing that in the past he has chosen to look the other way as the MPs plundered the country’s coffers.
To drive his message home, Museveni even took a pay cut from his paltry shs3.6m salary, to donate it to the National Task Force.
Top political analysts had questioned the rationale of MPs getting the money, as well. Government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo and seasoned social and political commentator Charles Rwomushana, had wondered whether parliament has always given MPs money in the past as part of its service delivery chain, and if not, why it was special to do so now.
In an ill-advised rebuttal, Kadaga called an emergency press conference on Thursday April 30, 2020 to try and salvage parliament’s reputation to little avail, with majority of comments online indicating Ugandans weren’t ready to take in more of the institution’s reasoning.
The fiasco came on the heels of another COVID19 related controversy involving the Speaker in which she introduced a US based professor and some Ugandans scientists to President Museveni claiming they had discovered a cure for the dreaded coronavirus, yet the “magic drug’ was a mere sanitizer.
This did not prevent Kadaga from defending her embarrassing decision to present her pals to Museveni.
Analysts believe Kadaga could still win her parliamentary seat in Kamuli but also add that her political curve that was on a steep rise has been flattened by these coronavirus controversies.
As the country gears up for general elections next year, everyone cannot wait to see what the Speaker has up her sleeve to salvage her image, that appears to be crumbling like a pack of cards.
