Jacob Oulanyah’s chances of becoming the next speaker of parliament on Wednesday skyrocketed after the Lango Parliamentary Group endorsed his candidature.
Oulanyah, Deputy Speaker is in the race to become speaker. The race also has current speaker Rebecca Kadaga and opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party spokesperson, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda.
In a press conference addressed by the LPG, chairperson, Betty Amongi said the group had unanimously agreed to back Oulanyah for the post because of his personal abilities and the fact that they agreed to do so in 2016.
“LPG therefore re-iterates its full support for the candidature of Hon. Jacob Oulanyah and further urges other elected members of the 11th Parliament to join us in supporting the candidature of Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah for Speaker of the 11th Parliament,” Betty Amongi said.
She added, “LPG recognizes that Hon. Jacob L. Oulanyah has exhibited immense commitment to national unity, development and proven leadership capabilities in various capacities in and outside Parliament.”
Lango Parliamentary Group is an association of Members of Parliament from Lango sub-region in Northern Uganda drawn from various political backgrounds. It is comprised of 32 Members of Parliament representing 21 Constituencies, 9 districts, 1 city and 1 youth MP.
There were 15 MPs present at Kabira Country Club as the lawmakers made the announcement. However, Among revealed that other members of the group had consented to the announcement.
The development comes days after another group, Acholi Parliamentary Group also announced it was backing Oulanyah.
LPG has also called for Kadaga who has been speaker for ten years, to move on, appealing to the appointing authority to make her Vice President.
Commenting on reports that the group was playing the tribe card, Amongi said they supported Kadaga in 2016 despite Oulanyah, a candidate from norther Uganda being her competitor.
“In 2016, Oulanyah was contesting against Kadaga but we chose to back the latter even though the former was one of us. We convinced Oulanyah that we will support him next time and now the time has come,” Amongi said.
In 2016, the race threatened to split the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and it took serious convincing for Oulanyah to give way for Kadaga to complete parliament’s proverbial ten year period at the helm of the legislature.
Veteran politician Felix Okot Ogong, also re echoed Amongi’s calls for Kadaga to be appointed VP saying she fits in the position. He also singled out Oulanyah’s qualities saying the Deputy Speaker is; reliable, dependable and possesses rare leadership qualities that make him suitable for the job.
There having been growing calls from various circles for Kadaga to be appointed VP, arguing that women need to occupy the number two position to balance the gender – power card.
Amongi also revealed that parliament has unwritten rules, set by a precedent that every speaker serves a 10year two term period.