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Smelling a rat!!!! Uganda media skeptical about President Museveni’s Closeness to specific Cute female legislators: The case of Ida Nantaba and Margaret Kirisa Mbeiza
Museveni defeats Kadaga on Nantaba
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni+defeats+Kadaga+on+Nantaba/-/688334/1593572/-/67arwkz/-/index.html
By ISAAC IMAKA
Posted Wednesday, October 24 2012 at 01:00
Posted Wednesday, October 24 2012 at 01:00
In Summary
Speaker reverses earlier stand as MPs on the
Appointments Committee approve ministerial nominee in likely breach of rules.After nearly a month of ping-pong, the parliamentary Appointments Committee yesterday cleared State Minister for Lands-designate Ida Nantaba, in a move that apparently broke its own rules.
According to Rule 160(1) of the new Rules of Procedure, as amended this year, where the President’s nominee is not approved by the committee, the President may appeal to the National Assembly to take a decision on the matter.
However, when the President challenged the committee for blocking the nomination of Ms Nantaba on moral grounds, and asked that she be reconsidered, the Deputy Speaker, Mr Jacob Oulanyah, reconvened the committee to deal with the matter.
“They recalled the committee and approved her?” asked Shadow Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs s, Mr Medard Ssegona. “The whole situation boils down to one thing: individualising institutions and institutionalising individuals. I do not have any problem with the appointee but that man [President Museveni] has over interfered with our institution [Parliament]. Indeed, he is a warrior.”
Kampala-based lawyer Nicholas Opio said it was wrong for the committee to have gone against the House rules. “The only option the President had was to appeal to the whole House because that’s what rule 160(1) provides for. Anything outside that is against the law,” he said.
According to a letter dated October 22 from Deputy Clerk Emmanuel Bakwega to all the members of the Appointments Committee that was copied to the Speaker, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, and her Deputy, Mr Jacob Oulanyah, the committee was to meet and only vet Prof. Sam Turyamuhika and Prof. Joyce Kakuramatsi Kikafunda, who were appointed as ambassadors to Somalia and the United Kingdom, respectively.
However, a source in the committee told Daily Monitor that Ms Nantaba appeared before the committee following a letter from Speaker Kadaga to her deputy, directing him to reconsider her case. “Mr Oulanyah read to us a letter from Madam Kadaga and that’s why the members agreed to meet Nantaba,” said the source.
Kadaga out of town
Ms Kadaga, who had earlier disagreed with the move to reconvene the committee, could not be reached for comment. She is currently in Canada, attending an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting.
Speaking to journalists after appearing before the committee, a calm-looking Ms Nantaba said she was not ready to make a full comment, but she was ready for any decision. “If the committee approves me, it will be good news for the people of Kayunga,” she said. “But if they reject me, I will accept the decision.”
In a letter to Parliament, President Museveni told the committee that since Ms Nantaba had been cleared on education qualification queries, the moral grounds issue based on her outbursts against the committee, and only called for an apology and not a total rejection. Though she only had to apologise, members of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ms Nantaba was not willing to do so.
Gulu Woman MP Aol Betty Ocan, who represented the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Nandala Mafabi, left before the decision was made, saying she was dissatisfied with the way Ms Nantaba was treating the committee. “It looked like we were begging and pushing her to apologise,” she said.
