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Uganda MPs pick Anita Among

as Speaker after death of
Oulanyah
Friday March 25 2022

Anita Among is the second woman to rise to the position

of Speaker after Rebecca Kadaga.

By JULIUS BARIGABA

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IN SUMMARY

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Anita Among is the new Speaker of

Uganda’s Parliament after she was elected

on Friday to the office vacated by Jacob

Oulanyah, who died last Saturday in the

United States.

Oulanyah was receiving treatment at a

hospital in Seattle, Washington.

Among, the Bukedea District Woman MP

polled 401 votes ahead of Bugiri

Municipality legislator Asuman Basalirwa,

who garnered 66 votes.

Ms Among was fronted by the ruling party

NRM, which enjoys a majority in

Parliament, while Mr Basalirwa is an

opposition member. NRM has 330

lawmakers of the 519 elected MPs.

“By the grace of God, we shall do our bit to

create a better country for all in honour of

the legacy of our fallen leader and brother

Jacob Oulanyah,” said Ms Among, after she

was declared the winner by Chief Justice

Alphonse Owiny Dollo, who presided over

the election.

The new Speaker faces an uphill task of

taming new schemes to change the

Constitution from a presidential to a

parliamentary system and unifying an

already divided Parliament, especially after

the demise of Oulanyah, which has pitted

the north, where he hailed from, against

southerners.

Ruling party insiders sounded defensive

over challenges facing the new

parliamentary leadership and keeping

Oulanyah’s legislative legacy.

“The new leadership will succeed only if it

respects parliamentary rules. I also believe

the late Oulanyah’s stance on parliamentary

behaviour that revolved around proper time

management among legislators, carrying out

serious policy research and being organised

on the job might help improve the quality of

parliamentary deliberations,” said Captain

Francis Babu, an NRM leader and former

Kampala Central MP.

However, Mr Babu cautioned the new

leadership to be careful about populist

demands.

“Changing the succession system for

parliamentary leadership should not be

guided by people’s sentiments. We need to

undertake comprehensive studies on the

best options for filling leadership gaps in the

Speaker’s office depending on existing

practices in other jurisdictions,” he said.

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The government was forced to quickly set in

motion the process to elect a new Speaker,

as Parliament cannot transact any business

when the office of the Speaker is vacant, as

stipulated by the Constitution.

Ms Among, 48, who until Friday was the

deputy Speaker since May 24, 2021, and

presided over Parliament for most of the

time while her boss battled cancer, is the

second woman to rise to the position of

Speaker after Rebecca Kadaga was occupied

the office from 2011 to 2021.

Oulanyah’s death opened the race for his

position, with the government in a rush to

have a new Speaker sworn in by Friday to

allow Parliament to resume and pay its

respects to the fallen leader, who occupied

the office for only nine months.

In the race to succeed him were 13 MPs,

including Ms Among and four Cabinet

ministers.

However, the government’s move was

opposed by some who argued that

Oulanyah’s death did not leave his office

vacant as the supreme law defines the

Speaker as the “Speaker of Parliament, and

includes the Deputy Speaker.”

“The rush to vote was unnecessary,” tweeted

lawyer Nicholas Opiyo.

“Parliament is stuck in a crisis. The new

leadership needs to balance competing

political party interests and those of the

population that includes a massive youth

segment.

“It is clear that Uganda is plagued with

many angry, hungry and desperate citizens

who feel that government has neglected its

socio-economic obligations to them and

deserves retribution for its mistakes. The

economy is still suffering from the negative

effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the

new parliamentary leadership should

spearhead discussions on how to resolve this

dilemma and restore hope among the

citizens.

“Balancing elements of professional merit

and political loyalty in public leadership

comes with age and that takes a long time

and this explains too much emphasis placed

on loyalty during the speakership election

battle,” observed Agnes Kirabo, Executive

Director at Food Rights Alliance, a civil

society body that advocates for agricultural

sector reforms.

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