My job Isn’t to advise Museveni- Ssekandi
KAMPALA- Vice President, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi
has revealed that advising President Yoweri Museveni on how to run
Uganda isn’t part of his constitutional duties.
Ssekandi made the revelation on his Twitter handle after an engagement with one of his followers who criticized the Vice President for only settling for the ceremonial role, instead of using his position to give counsel to President Museveni.
The exchange followed a tweet sent out by Ssekandi Wednesday revealing details about his meeting with Pope Francis writing, “After attending the Canonisation Mass of Pope Paul VI with six Others, I was pleased to meet His Holiness Pope Francis who had led the Canonisation Mass.”
One Twitter user by the names of Josephine Ninsiima replied to Ssekandi’s tweet stating, “Your only purpose is to represent Ugandans on functions. When will you ever make yourself as Vice President and advise your brother Kaguta Museveni on the right path to take and on all the wrong decisions his making?”
The Vice President didn’t hold back in his response asserting, “Thanks for your advice. You will observe however that Article 108 of the constitution clearly stipulates the role of a Vice President.”
Indeed, the said article 108(a) highlights duties of Vice President; “Deputise for the President as and when the need arises; and (b)perform such other functions as may be assigned to him or her by the President, or as may be conferred on him or her by this Constitution.
However, Ninsiima wasn’t satisfied by Ssekandi’s response and pushed further with another question asking, “Does the constitution insist while you stipulate some roles, you ignore those that require immediate attention and your input. You have never addressed anything on the serial killers, nor violence or torture in the economy.”
Ssekandi ignored Nansiima’s questions and another Twitter user Arthur Mukiibi tasked her to leave the Vice President alone writing, “Omusajja wa Mukama bwomuvwako, (why don’t you leave the man of God) cut him some slack.”
However, it wasn’t only Ninsiima involved in an exchange with Ssekandi but another Twitter user, Paul Aruho asked the Vice President about his closet choice, “Where did your multi-coloured coat go? You would have looked super smart.”
The Vice President answered: “Thanks for your observation. The coat is for National/ State Functions like the opening of Parliament.”
In June 2016, Ssekandi sent tongues wagging when he came for the State of Nation address dressed in a coat branded in black, yellow, red which are the colours of the Uganda flag.
His choice of court generated both uproar and jokes with some members of the public comparing it to mattress cover.
Ssekandi was in Rome, Italy leading Uganda’s Delegation attending the Canonisation of Pope Paul VI as a Saint.
Records from Twitter indicate that the Vice President joined the Social Media site in July 2014 and has only sent out 122 tweets, has only 480 followers and is only following 38people among these being former Premier Amama Mbabazi, Joe Biden former Vice President of United States, former US President Barack Obama but no top Government official has ever bothered to follow Ssekandi on Twitter
Ssekandi made the revelation on his Twitter handle after an engagement with one of his followers who criticized the Vice President for only settling for the ceremonial role, instead of using his position to give counsel to President Museveni.
The exchange followed a tweet sent out by Ssekandi Wednesday revealing details about his meeting with Pope Francis writing, “After attending the Canonisation Mass of Pope Paul VI with six Others, I was pleased to meet His Holiness Pope Francis who had led the Canonisation Mass.”
One Twitter user by the names of Josephine Ninsiima replied to Ssekandi’s tweet stating, “Your only purpose is to represent Ugandans on functions. When will you ever make yourself as Vice President and advise your brother Kaguta Museveni on the right path to take and on all the wrong decisions his making?”
The Vice President didn’t hold back in his response asserting, “Thanks for your advice. You will observe however that Article 108 of the constitution clearly stipulates the role of a Vice President.”
Indeed, the said article 108(a) highlights duties of Vice President; “Deputise for the President as and when the need arises; and (b)perform such other functions as may be assigned to him or her by the President, or as may be conferred on him or her by this Constitution.
However, Ninsiima wasn’t satisfied by Ssekandi’s response and pushed further with another question asking, “Does the constitution insist while you stipulate some roles, you ignore those that require immediate attention and your input. You have never addressed anything on the serial killers, nor violence or torture in the economy.”
Ssekandi ignored Nansiima’s questions and another Twitter user Arthur Mukiibi tasked her to leave the Vice President alone writing, “Omusajja wa Mukama bwomuvwako, (why don’t you leave the man of God) cut him some slack.”
After attending the Canonisation Mass of Pope Paul VI with six Others, I was pleased to meet His Holiness Pope Francis who had led the Canonisation Mass.
Your only purpose is to represent #Ugandans on functions.
when will you ever make yourself as vice president and advise your brother
However, it wasn’t only Ninsiima involved in an exchange with Ssekandi but another Twitter user, Paul Aruho asked the Vice President about his closet choice, “Where did your multi-coloured coat go? You would have looked super smart.”
The Vice President answered: “Thanks for your observation. The coat is for National/ State Functions like the opening of Parliament.”
In June 2016, Ssekandi sent tongues wagging when he came for the State of Nation address dressed in a coat branded in black, yellow, red which are the colours of the Uganda flag.
His choice of court generated both uproar and jokes with some members of the public comparing it to mattress cover.
Ssekandi was in Rome, Italy leading Uganda’s Delegation attending the Canonisation of Pope Paul VI as a Saint.
Records from Twitter indicate that the Vice President joined the Social Media site in July 2014 and has only sent out 122 tweets, has only 480 followers and is only following 38people among these being former Premier Amama Mbabazi, Joe Biden former Vice President of United States, former US President Barack Obama but no top Government official has ever bothered to follow Ssekandi on Twitter
VP Ssekandi meets Pope Francis in Vatican
Added 17th October 2018 12:02 PM
In Vatican, Ssekandi was received by Pope Francis who led the
canonization Mass at St. Peters' Square on Sunday October 14, 2018
The Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi was among the
dignitaries who attended the canonization of Pope Paul VI and six
others.
In Vatican, Ssekandi was received by Pope Francis who led the canonization Mass at St. Peters' Square on Sunday October 14, 2018
Edward Ssekandi: A silent political genius whom Ugandans keep on forgetting that he is the country’s Vice President
By the time President Yoweri Museveni reads out his new cabinet, or
hands over power in May next year, his Deputy Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi
will have occupied the country’s second most important office of the
Vice President for a record 10 years.
With all odds against his return to the 11th Parliament for the man who will be chasing his 80th birthday after representing his native Bukoto Central in Parliament since 1996, he would certainly be a legacy worthy writing and reading about among some of the most outstanding ones of the country.
Although all the three Museveni Deputies before Ssekandi are remembered for having not blossomed beyond the shadows of their boss, the current VP has arguably been the most subtle Museveni second in command among them all.
He has variously been ridiculed by the public for being too dead silent, making some people to forget that the country actually has a Vice President. Monthly social media reminders of “Ssekandi is still the VP of Uganda” have gained popularity on the various social media platforms especially twitter and Facebook with regard to his public rarity.
With the President doing almost all the most important errands himself, rarely delegating to his Vice, Ssekandi resorted to eating his big cake for the office and dosing all the way to and from the legislature where he is the lucky representative for Bukoto Central.
His reign has been judged with mixed feelings from both the public and political pundits alike.
Having taken over from Dr Gilbert Bukenya, the man whose rumoured appetite for the top seat drowned him into hot soup before Museveni, Ssekandi’s tenure was most likely to be shortlived unless he played his political cards with caution so as not to rouse his boss’s suspicion early or ever at all.
Ssekandi’s rare sight before the political cameras has often generated a debate on whether he is a tongue-tied politician or just a cunning one who adopted political insignificance as a survival mechanism to keep him in the Country’s Second position longer.
For purpose of making a well informed judgement on the above question however, it’s absolutely imperative that one understands who Ssekandi is, which is exhaustively discussed below.
Ssekandi was born in Masaka District on 19 January 1942. He graduated with honors from the University of East Africa with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He also holds a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Center in Kampala.
From 1973 until 1978, he served as a lecturer at the Uganda Law Development Centre. Between 1978 and 1979, he served as the Acting Director of the Law Development Centre. He was the lead counsel on the Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights, between 1986 and 1993. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the 1995 Ugandan constitution, from 1994 until 1995.
In 1996, Ssekandi was elected to the Ugandan Parliament to represent Bukoto County Central, located in Masaka District. He was re-elected from that constituency in 2001, 2006 and 2011. He served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 1996 to 2001. He was elected as Speaker in 2001, a position he held until 2011. He was replaced as Speaker by Rebecca Kadaga, the first female Speaker of Parliament in Uganda’s history, on 19 May 2011.
Breaking the jinx of all Museveni VPs being medical Doctors, Ssekandi would later be the first lawyer to serve in that particular office. With most lawyers known for insatiable ambitions and controversies, Museveni must have been watching his new second with a close eye lest he gets obsessed with more than what he was offered.
But the former Speaker of Parliament seemed to have watched his predecessor Bukenya with strict intent. The man from Kakiri desperately wanted the President’s chair like he was obsessed. Through his upland rice programs and agriculture interventions, Bukenya sought to establish his nationwide reach in preparation for a mega political endeavor.
He badly wanted to be Museveni to the extent that he even started talking like him, walking like him and dressing like him and probably feeling he was Museveni himself.
This all destroyed him. The ending was one to forget for the decorated former Makerere University Medical professor, spending some months in Luzira in the process after which he joined opposition with the aim of feeding his Presidential dream. He however didn’t survive there for long, turning around to endorse his former ally for President in 2016 and publicly apologising for the misunderstanding.
Ssekandi seemed to have learnt his best lessons. He as such resolved that his would be a tenure of a silent VP, lying low as an envelope, going public only when called upon to do so and sticking to written speeches even when delegated to attend a burial of a VIP by the President.
This way, he has succeeded in seeing all potential enemies turn political missiles away from him, keeping his name out of the succession debates that would have predictably led to his fall prematurely.
Resultantly, he will certainly have an accolade of the longest serving Vice President of Uganda to take home as he heads into his retirement early next year.
An elderly friend of
mine who saw Vice President Edward Ssekandi in his heydays as a young
advocate tells me he was a handsome and cheerful counsel.
Time and trouble have taken their toll on the former speaker. But he was dandy and well-kempt. In 1973, as a fresh graduate lawyer from Tanzania, Ssekandi amorously fell in love with a belle that lived in the Bukoto flats. This affair brought out the best in him.
His car, a white Fiat 124, would be seen in the parking lot at this urban estate. Later, you would catch the top city lawyer patronising the hitherto White/Indian-only clubs and ale houses.
surely indulged his girl. His fashion was creative as his taste was exquisite. If he were not driving to Kampala club, you were sure to find him at the National theatre or one of those debonair restaurants.
True to a lawyer’s hustle, Ssekandi doubled as an advocate and academic – teaching at Law Development Centre (LDC), which he also headed for a year.
On Kampala road, where Nando’s restaurant stands, was the former Indian-owned building that housed Ssekandi’s swanky chambers. His clients recall an eloquent and indefatigable advocate – a bit slow but thorough to the bone.
As VP, however, Ugandans have come to see Ssekandi as some sort of a clown. Like the character, Feste in Shakespeare’s comedy drama, Twelfth Night, for his loud silence and rather clownish personae, Ssekandi has been thought an idiot.
Feste had stayed in the household of Countess Olivia for long and the lady took much delight in him. Although he had become too old for a servant, “he still has the wit to carry off good ‘fooling’ when he needs to, and the voice to sing lustily or plan gently as the occasion demands.” Seeing Ssekandi as some form of Feste is most tempting.
Look, of all Museveni’s vice presidents, Ssekandi is the most wordless. Despite all Museveni’s VPs being simply mouth and trousers, Ssekandi’s predecessors actually gave the job a performance that disguised their powerlessness.
Dr Samson Kisekka was as loud and pompous as he could get – bragging about the six degrees in his bedroom! Dr Specioza Kazibwe – perhaps the noisiest of them all – actually had a show on national radio where her unscripted ramblings were broadcast every Sunday.
And Prof Mahogany gave the listening and viewing audience much delight. VP Ssekandi is the diametric opposite of all his predecessors. He grants neither long nor short media interviews. He comments on nothing.
The VP position being one charged with everything (and directly responsible for nothing in effect), Ssekandi is quick to refer nosy journalists to the relevant ministries. He is not shy to feign or actually acknowledge ignorance of things – even as commonplace as Bobi Wine and the Arua violence. But believe you me fellow countrymen, this man is no fool.
There are two ways of reading Ssekandi’s choice to become the most silent senior politician in Uganda’s history. First is his profession as a lawyer. It is common knowledge that our ‘learned friends’ never enter politics on the ground of some lofty ideals such as democracy or Marxist truisms.
But power, money and fame. In fact, lawyers see politics as an extension of their profession. As Marx observed, they earn their livelihood by crafting the interests of merchants into law – however grievous these laws could be to their compatriots. We could say that Ssekandi entered politics as a continuity of his hustle. But that is a small part.
The second reading, which I find more persuasive, is that Ssekandi fully appreciates the nature of our politics and the dilemma of speech in Museveni’s Uganda: to defend the regime is to lose your head and be branded a Feste.
Yet to keep your head and speak your mind is to lose your place and be branded a rebel. The NRM has plenty of Festes, and equal number of rebels – many with broken bones and hearts, and others terribly bankrupted.
With his resume of a seasoned Kampala advocate, and former speaker of parliament, surely Ssekandi has seen and knows enough than many Ugandans. In fact, his genius is in understanding the time, and choosing to be a silent clown.
With all odds against his return to the 11th Parliament for the man who will be chasing his 80th birthday after representing his native Bukoto Central in Parliament since 1996, he would certainly be a legacy worthy writing and reading about among some of the most outstanding ones of the country.
Although all the three Museveni Deputies before Ssekandi are remembered for having not blossomed beyond the shadows of their boss, the current VP has arguably been the most subtle Museveni second in command among them all.
He has variously been ridiculed by the public for being too dead silent, making some people to forget that the country actually has a Vice President. Monthly social media reminders of “Ssekandi is still the VP of Uganda” have gained popularity on the various social media platforms especially twitter and Facebook with regard to his public rarity.
With the President doing almost all the most important errands himself, rarely delegating to his Vice, Ssekandi resorted to eating his big cake for the office and dosing all the way to and from the legislature where he is the lucky representative for Bukoto Central.
His reign has been judged with mixed feelings from both the public and political pundits alike.
Having taken over from Dr Gilbert Bukenya, the man whose rumoured appetite for the top seat drowned him into hot soup before Museveni, Ssekandi’s tenure was most likely to be shortlived unless he played his political cards with caution so as not to rouse his boss’s suspicion early or ever at all.
Ssekandi’s rare sight before the political cameras has often generated a debate on whether he is a tongue-tied politician or just a cunning one who adopted political insignificance as a survival mechanism to keep him in the Country’s Second position longer.
For purpose of making a well informed judgement on the above question however, it’s absolutely imperative that one understands who Ssekandi is, which is exhaustively discussed below.
Ssekandi was born in Masaka District on 19 January 1942. He graduated with honors from the University of East Africa with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He also holds a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Center in Kampala.
From 1973 until 1978, he served as a lecturer at the Uganda Law Development Centre. Between 1978 and 1979, he served as the Acting Director of the Law Development Centre. He was the lead counsel on the Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights, between 1986 and 1993. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the 1995 Ugandan constitution, from 1994 until 1995.
In 1996, Ssekandi was elected to the Ugandan Parliament to represent Bukoto County Central, located in Masaka District. He was re-elected from that constituency in 2001, 2006 and 2011. He served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 1996 to 2001. He was elected as Speaker in 2001, a position he held until 2011. He was replaced as Speaker by Rebecca Kadaga, the first female Speaker of Parliament in Uganda’s history, on 19 May 2011.
Breaking the jinx of all Museveni VPs being medical Doctors, Ssekandi would later be the first lawyer to serve in that particular office. With most lawyers known for insatiable ambitions and controversies, Museveni must have been watching his new second with a close eye lest he gets obsessed with more than what he was offered.
But the former Speaker of Parliament seemed to have watched his predecessor Bukenya with strict intent. The man from Kakiri desperately wanted the President’s chair like he was obsessed. Through his upland rice programs and agriculture interventions, Bukenya sought to establish his nationwide reach in preparation for a mega political endeavor.
He badly wanted to be Museveni to the extent that he even started talking like him, walking like him and dressing like him and probably feeling he was Museveni himself.
This all destroyed him. The ending was one to forget for the decorated former Makerere University Medical professor, spending some months in Luzira in the process after which he joined opposition with the aim of feeding his Presidential dream. He however didn’t survive there for long, turning around to endorse his former ally for President in 2016 and publicly apologising for the misunderstanding.
Ssekandi seemed to have learnt his best lessons. He as such resolved that his would be a tenure of a silent VP, lying low as an envelope, going public only when called upon to do so and sticking to written speeches even when delegated to attend a burial of a VIP by the President.
This way, he has succeeded in seeing all potential enemies turn political missiles away from him, keeping his name out of the succession debates that would have predictably led to his fall prematurely.
Resultantly, he will certainly have an accolade of the longest serving Vice President of Uganda to take home as he heads into his retirement early next year.
VP Edward Ssekandi is not Feste in our Twelfth Night
Time and trouble have taken their toll on the former speaker. But he was dandy and well-kempt. In 1973, as a fresh graduate lawyer from Tanzania, Ssekandi amorously fell in love with a belle that lived in the Bukoto flats. This affair brought out the best in him.
His car, a white Fiat 124, would be seen in the parking lot at this urban estate. Later, you would catch the top city lawyer patronising the hitherto White/Indian-only clubs and ale houses.
surely indulged his girl. His fashion was creative as his taste was exquisite. If he were not driving to Kampala club, you were sure to find him at the National theatre or one of those debonair restaurants.
True to a lawyer’s hustle, Ssekandi doubled as an advocate and academic – teaching at Law Development Centre (LDC), which he also headed for a year.
On Kampala road, where Nando’s restaurant stands, was the former Indian-owned building that housed Ssekandi’s swanky chambers. His clients recall an eloquent and indefatigable advocate – a bit slow but thorough to the bone.
As VP, however, Ugandans have come to see Ssekandi as some sort of a clown. Like the character, Feste in Shakespeare’s comedy drama, Twelfth Night, for his loud silence and rather clownish personae, Ssekandi has been thought an idiot.
Feste had stayed in the household of Countess Olivia for long and the lady took much delight in him. Although he had become too old for a servant, “he still has the wit to carry off good ‘fooling’ when he needs to, and the voice to sing lustily or plan gently as the occasion demands.” Seeing Ssekandi as some form of Feste is most tempting.
Look, of all Museveni’s vice presidents, Ssekandi is the most wordless. Despite all Museveni’s VPs being simply mouth and trousers, Ssekandi’s predecessors actually gave the job a performance that disguised their powerlessness.
Dr Samson Kisekka was as loud and pompous as he could get – bragging about the six degrees in his bedroom! Dr Specioza Kazibwe – perhaps the noisiest of them all – actually had a show on national radio where her unscripted ramblings were broadcast every Sunday.
And Prof Mahogany gave the listening and viewing audience much delight. VP Ssekandi is the diametric opposite of all his predecessors. He grants neither long nor short media interviews. He comments on nothing.
The VP position being one charged with everything (and directly responsible for nothing in effect), Ssekandi is quick to refer nosy journalists to the relevant ministries. He is not shy to feign or actually acknowledge ignorance of things – even as commonplace as Bobi Wine and the Arua violence. But believe you me fellow countrymen, this man is no fool.
There are two ways of reading Ssekandi’s choice to become the most silent senior politician in Uganda’s history. First is his profession as a lawyer. It is common knowledge that our ‘learned friends’ never enter politics on the ground of some lofty ideals such as democracy or Marxist truisms.
But power, money and fame. In fact, lawyers see politics as an extension of their profession. As Marx observed, they earn their livelihood by crafting the interests of merchants into law – however grievous these laws could be to their compatriots. We could say that Ssekandi entered politics as a continuity of his hustle. But that is a small part.
The second reading, which I find more persuasive, is that Ssekandi fully appreciates the nature of our politics and the dilemma of speech in Museveni’s Uganda: to defend the regime is to lose your head and be branded a Feste.
Yet to keep your head and speak your mind is to lose your place and be branded a rebel. The NRM has plenty of Festes, and equal number of rebels – many with broken bones and hearts, and others terribly bankrupted.
With his resume of a seasoned Kampala advocate, and former speaker of parliament, surely Ssekandi has seen and knows enough than many Ugandans. In fact, his genius is in understanding the time, and choosing to be a silent clown.
Ssekandi: Longest serving and quietest of Museveni’s deputies
Sunday May 31 2020
Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi (centre) arrives at a function. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa
In the last
two months, President Museveni and other government officials have been
putting in a shift in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, but Vice
President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi has been conspicuously absent.
And
it is not just about Covid-19. He has for the last nine years been so
invisible and inaudible in all major public discourses that some
Ugandans have found pleasure in poking at him on social media.
One has actually made it his business to
post an image of Ssekandi along with the line, “A polite reminder that
he is still the Vice President of Uganda.”
Mr Ssekandi was appointed Vice President on May 24, 2011, after serving two five-year terms as Speaker of Parliament.
Article 109(1) of the Constitution says, “If the President dies, resigns is removed from office under this Constitution, the Vice President shall assume the office of President until fresh elections are held and the elected president assumes office…”
Article 109(1) of the Constitution says, “If the President dies, resigns is removed from office under this Constitution, the Vice President shall assume the office of President until fresh elections are held and the elected president assumes office…”
That puts Ssekandi a heartbeat away from the presidency, but he has been behaving like someone a million miles away from it.
Ssekandi the Speaker
The man who was first elected in March 1994 to represent Bukoto Central in the Constituent Assembly (CA), was a very popular choice for the office of Speaker in 2001.
The man who was first elected in March 1994 to represent Bukoto Central in the Constituent Assembly (CA), was a very popular choice for the office of Speaker in 2001.
Previous experiences as a State Attorney and later lecturer and
head of Department of Law at Makerere University, head of the
postgraduate bar course and director at the Law Development Centre;
member of the Drafting Committee of the 1995 Constitution; chairperson
of the parliamentary committees on Rules, Discipline and Privileges and
later Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Deputy Speaker under Francis
Ayume made him the ideal candidate.
However, by the end
of his 10-year tenure, Ssekandi had alienated himself from a sizeable
number of MPs. He was accused of sometimes simply announcing that “the
ayes have it” even when Parliament had been silent, a charge he denies.
“I
just announce what the House has decided. Unless I misinterpret the law
or the rules of procedure, that’s when you can say that the Speaker has
not done his job well… Otherwise, my work is to simply put the question
and the honourable members decide,” he once told journalists.
Whereas
the jury in Ms Rebecca Kadaga’s tenure as Speaker is still out, Prof
Morris Ogenga-Latigo, who was Leader of the Opposition in Parliament in
Ssekandi’s last five-year term as Speaker suggests that Mr Ssekandi
turned Parliament into a rubber-stamp institution that served Mr
Museveni’s interests.
“As Speaker, he ensured that
whatever the President wanted he got, only that he (Mr Ssekandi) has a
demeanour of calmness and innocence that used to make people believe
that he was not responding to pressure from elsewhere,” Prof
Ogenga-Latigo says.
Controversial rulings
Some of those rulings resulted in litigation. In others they whittled down the powers of Parliament.
Controversial rulings
Some of those rulings resulted in litigation. In others they whittled down the powers of Parliament.
The
first constitutional amendment Bill was tabled and passed within a
record two hours. That set the ground for a litigation which saw the
Constitutional Court annul both the first and second constitutional
amendment Acts.
Court ruled that the First Amendment
Act was passed in total disregard of the Constitution as it was tabled
before Parliament, debated, passed and assented to by the President on
the same day, contrary to the mandatory minimum period of 14 working
days between readings.
In the June 2004 ruling on the
Second Referendum Act under which the June 29, 2000, referendum on
political systems was held and the Movement system of government
adopted, Justice Amos Twinomujuni declared that, “the Act is null and
void. It never became law, either on July 9, 1999, or June 9, 2000, when
it was assented to. It could not expire when it never had a valid
existence.”
Tumukunde resignation
Gen Henry Tumukunde was the only Army MP who brazenly opposed plans to scrap the presidential term limits.
Tumukunde, who took the fight to radio talk shows, was subsequently arrested and arraigned before the General Court Martial on charges of military misconduct and spreading of harmful propaganda.
Tumukunde resignation
Gen Henry Tumukunde was the only Army MP who brazenly opposed plans to scrap the presidential term limits.
Tumukunde, who took the fight to radio talk shows, was subsequently arrested and arraigned before the General Court Martial on charges of military misconduct and spreading of harmful propaganda.
In May
2005, despite having written to the Speaker indicating that he had been
forced to resign, Gen Tumukunde was thrown out of Parliament.
Mr
Ssekandi denied claims that he had been forced to accept a resignation
which had reportedly been written on a leaf pulled out of a writing pad.
“I
read the letter and it said exactly that (resignation). In that letter,
there was nothing like ‘I am under duress.’ Let this be clear, nobody
directed me,” he told Parliament on June 24, 2005.
The
Supreme Court ruled in October 2008 that Tumukunde had not resigned and
chided the Speaker for “hastily” accepting the resignation doing little
to protect MP’s liberties.
Controversial rulings
Prior to the July 12, 2005, vote that led to the scrapping of presidential term limits, Mr Ssekandi chose to run with a proposal to the secret ballot in favour of open voting even when there were fears MPs would, for fear of victimisation, not freely express themselves through open voting.
Controversial rulings
Prior to the July 12, 2005, vote that led to the scrapping of presidential term limits, Mr Ssekandi chose to run with a proposal to the secret ballot in favour of open voting even when there were fears MPs would, for fear of victimisation, not freely express themselves through open voting.
In July 2007, former Rubanda West MP Henry
Banyenzaki found himself out of his position as vice chairperson of the
Budget Committee of Parliament after Mr Ssekandi controversially ruled
that the party chief whips had the power to transfer members from
committees even before the lifespans of the committees had expired.
In
October 2008, Mr Ssekandi ruled that only documents that had been
certified by the author could be tabled before Parliament. In other
words, Parliament would no longer entertain, say, a classified document
if the State or author were unwilling to certify the same.
During
the NSSF Temangalo land probe, Mr Ssekandi directed the Clerk to
Parliament to handover a copy of the committee’s main report to
dissenting members so that they could base on it, and not proceedings of
the committee, to write a minority report. The report also ended up in
the hands of some of the accused persons.
He, on the
advice of the Attorney General, ruled that only the Inspector General of
Government (IGG) had the mandate to hold leaders to account under the
Leadership Code, which effectively stripped Parliament of the power to
hold the implicated ministers accountable.
In April
2011, Parliament exonerated government officials implicated by the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the abuse of about Shs500b that was
meant for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in
Kampala 2007. Whereas the decision prompted Opposition MPs to storm out
of the House, Mr Ssekandi opted to continue with parliamentary
proceedings.
Comparison with predecessors
Going by those few examples, one could say Ssekandi’s tenure as Speaker was dogged by controversy, but his time as Vice President has not been as controversial.
As he enters his ninth year in office, which makes him Museveni’s longest serving vice, it is clear that he has been the quietest of them all.
Comparison with predecessors
Going by those few examples, one could say Ssekandi’s tenure as Speaker was dogged by controversy, but his time as Vice President has not been as controversial.
As he enters his ninth year in office, which makes him Museveni’s longest serving vice, it is clear that he has been the quietest of them all.
Samson Kisekka
Mr Museveni’s first Vice President, Dr Samson Kisekka, was elevated from the post of Prime Minister, which he had held since January 31, 1986, to the vice presidency on January 22, 1991.
Kisekka was a vibrant personality who often featured on talk shows on Radio Uganda to mobilise the populace in the fight against poverty.
Mr Museveni’s first Vice President, Dr Samson Kisekka, was elevated from the post of Prime Minister, which he had held since January 31, 1986, to the vice presidency on January 22, 1991.
Kisekka was a vibrant personality who often featured on talk shows on Radio Uganda to mobilise the populace in the fight against poverty.
He also conducted nationwide tours to campaign for improvements in primary healthcare.
Dr Speciosa Kazibwe
Museveni’s second Vice President, Dr Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, also the first female Vice President on the continent, was very vibrant and especially chose to speak about issues that had always been kept under the carpet.
Dr Speciosa Kazibwe
Museveni’s second Vice President, Dr Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, also the first female Vice President on the continent, was very vibrant and especially chose to speak about issues that had always been kept under the carpet.
She,
for example, brought out the issue of male MPs who adorn smelly socks;
blasted Muslim men who have four wives, saying they were not satisfying
the women and, therefore, forcing them to cheat; advocated male
circumcision saying uncircumcised men were dirty and exposing their
wives to diseases; urged women to acquire martial arts skills in order
to beat the living daylights out of their wife-beating husbands. She
capped it all by filing for divorce, accusing her husband of
wife-beating.
Prof Gilbert Bukenya
Prof Bukenya spent most of his time trying to popularise upland rice and imitating his boss so much that he started to don wide-brimmed hats and casual shirts, and gesticulate and roll his eyes like the President.
However, it was also during his tenure that Ugandans got a peak into the internal power struggles in government. He alluded to the existence of a corrupt mafia group in government.
Prof Bukenya spent most of his time trying to popularise upland rice and imitating his boss so much that he started to don wide-brimmed hats and casual shirts, and gesticulate and roll his eyes like the President.
However, it was also during his tenure that Ugandans got a peak into the internal power struggles in government. He alluded to the existence of a corrupt mafia group in government.
Controversial endings
It is, however, important to note that the tenures of each of Mr Ssekandi’s predecessors ended on one note of controversy or another.
It is, however, important to note that the tenures of each of Mr Ssekandi’s predecessors ended on one note of controversy or another.
Though
the IGG later exonerated him, Kisekka was accused of having mismanaged
up to Shs68b meant for the rehabilitation of the Luweero Triangle.
Dr
Kazibwe was the subject of a parliamentary probe for alleged
mismanagement and failure to supervise the Sh3.4b Livestock Services
Project money meant for valley dams in western Uganda, while Dr Bukenya
was dogged by allegations of involvement in extramarital relationships
and wife grabbing. He was also probed and did some time in Luzira prison
for alleged abuse of Shs500b Chogm fund.
Mr Ssekandi
has been the quietest and most invisible Vice President in the NRM
government so far, which sharply contrasts with what he was as Speaker
of Parliament. It is as if Ugandans are seeing two different people and
personalities. Why?
Prof Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a lecturer
at Makerere University, says Mr Ssekandi has chosen to assume a low
profile because he lived with Mr Museveni at close quarters in Tanzania
and understands him quite well.
“Mr Museveni appoints a
VP who, in his (Museveni’s) calculations, cannot think of having
designs on the presidency. If a vice shows any desires for the big job
you are fired. Ssekandi knows that all too well. That is why he has
played it cool. Besides, he has aged so the best he can do is keep quiet
and keep the job,” Prof Ndebesa says.
Prof Paul
Wangoola, a former Makerere University don who was also a member of the
National Consultative Council (NCC), has a different view. He argues
that Ugandans should not be fooled by the display of different character
traits in Mr Ssekandi.
“Mr Ssekandi was and still
serves his personal interests. As a Speaker, he dabbled in controversy
in order to catch the eye of the NRM and Museveni in particular. He
managed to come across to them as a very loyal person, which helped him
to rise,” Prof Wangoola says.
“As a Vice President, he realises that it would not be in his interest to be more visible because that would set him off onto a collision course with the President. So maintaining silence is still in his best interests.”
“As a Vice President, he realises that it would not be in his interest to be more visible because that would set him off onto a collision course with the President. So maintaining silence is still in his best interests.”
