ocii <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 12:07:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: ocii <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Internal dissent in the NRM on the rise
To: The First Virtual Network for friends of Uganda <[email protected]>
Mulindwa,
I have not yet read this article. But the heading seems to suggest you are
simply flogging a dead horse by trying to fight against change, the FDC as a
party is one and an important contributor to, in the country. Have a good day.
And I will post another after this.
**********************************
Internal dissent in the NRM on the rise EMMANUEL GYEZAHO
PARLIAMENT
A WAVE of intrigue, animosity and bitterness is blazing through the ruling
National Resistance Movement Caucus in Parliament, leaving in its wake deep
cracks that are threatening to cripple one of the ruling party's key organs.
Inside Politics has learnt that outbursts last week over the supposed dropping
of some critical "rebel" MPs from influential parliamentary committees have set
a cross-section of vocal members on a warring path with the party
administrators. According to sources knowledgeable about the inner workings of
the NRM and the latest disputes - the exploding squabbles between party Chief
Whip Kabakumba Matsiko and defiant MPs Sam Lyomoki and Henry Banyenzaki - have
only rekindled simmering discontent. At the heart of the growing animosity, it
has been revealed, are ambition, ego clashes, power rivalry, greed and assorted
petty squabbles. Henry Banyenzaki Barnabas Tinkasimire
Emmanuel Dombo Kabakumba Matsiko Tom Butime Chris Baryomunsi
William Nsubuga Perez Ahabwe
But, it has emerged that the NRM bigwigs, sensing the amount of hostility and
embarrassment the open defiance of its MPs was eliciting have backtracked on
the move to drop the duo.
At a closed session of the caucus last week Ms Matsiko named new sessional
committee chairpersons conspicuously dropping Workers' MP Dr Lyomoki from the
Social Services committee. Bizarrely, she also dropped Mr Banyenzaki from the
Budget Committee, which is a standing committee with tenure of two and a half
years.
Parliament has three types of committees: Standing, sessional, and select.
Standing committees last two-and-a-half years, while sessional committees last
one year and are constituted at the beginning of every session of Parliament.
Select committees are constituted to deal with specific issues and then wind
down after presenting their report.
The duo, who were vice chairpersons, have spent much of the past week
challenging their removal from the leadership positions in the committees. They
put up a spirited defence against the party's actions on the floor of
Parliament.
According to Parliament's rules of procedure, a party whip is mandated to
supply lists of committee leaders to the speaker after an election in a
particular party. In the NRM Caucus, the practice has been that party chief
whip, backed by other influential MPs, handpick members drawn to balance
various interests like gender and loyalty and place them in the various
committees. Members then endorse the proposed names through a vote by show of
hands.
Last week, it turned out, Ms Kabakumba submitted lists of NRM MPs for sessional
committees, leaving out the standing committees whose sell by date is
one-and-a-half years away. Speaker Edward Sekandi ruled on Wednesday that he
would "stick" by the list of names the NRM whip submits and duly sanctioned the
new sessional committee members. Mr Banyenzaki had been transferred to the
committee on Science and Technology and thus remains substantive Budget
Committee vice chairman. Dr Lyomoki, however, remains relegated as an ordinary
member. JOVIAL: NRM delegates during the opening ceremony of the
partys delegates conference at Nambole in 2000. File photo
Mr Banyenzaki told Inside Politics on Monday that party administrators had made
a "tactical withdrawal and kept the status quo" due to their legitimate
challenge. Boldly, the two most dissenting MPs have taken Ms Matsiko head on,
accusing her of behaving obsequiously toward the executive and stifling
internal democracy in the party.
Dr Lyomoki told Inside Politics that Ms Matsiko was simply a government stooge
being used to "takeover" Parliament.
"The executive is trying to use the caucus chairmanship to have a situation
where Parliament is run as a branch of the Executive. It is not the Executive
to determine who should be a leader of a parliamentary committee," he said. "I
have no respect for her," said Mr Banyenzaki, "not even an iota of respect."
Ms Matsiko scoffed at the suggestion of her kowtowing to the executive branch
only saying, "I am not acting in my individual capacity as MP but as party
chief whip." Her actions are part of a design drawn to ensure total discipline
in the NRM Caucus, inspired by the doctrine of multiparty politics where toeing
the party line is paramount, even if at the expense of what is right.
Victims of Ms Matsiko's judgement, this is not the first time the two
representatives are at loggerheads with the NRM party. Their
independent-mindedness first surfaced in March after a group of security
operatives invaded the Kampala High Court. A stinging report condemning the
siege was subsequently authored by Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee and
tabled in the NRM Caucus.
Although the report is yet to see the light of day, the two MPs, in defiance of
the caucus's position not to denounce the act, moved a motion on the floor of
Parliament condemning the siege and questioned the continued incarceration of
suspects of the shadowy Peoples Redemption Army rebel group. It was then that
the two men were branded rebel MPs.
Now brimming with contempt, the duo is questioning Ms Matsiko's legitimacy as
caucus head saying she was simply "imposed" on them by the party's top
leadership. Although they cite article 35 of the NRM constitution which states
that the chairperson of the caucus, who shall be the chief whip because NRM is
the ruling party, must be elected, the article is in contradiction with rule 13
of the parliamentary rules of procedure which state that there shall be a
government chief whip "appointed by the government" from among MPs representing
the ruling party.
"There have been conflicting interpretations of the NRM constitution vis-à-vis
the rules of Parliament," said Mr David Bahati (Ndorwa West), a member of the
caucus executive. "Really we have been going through a learning process in
multipartism and I think we should find a position of compromise."
Ms Matsiko, however, says she was duly elected by MPs "although the difference
is that my appointment came first before the election". Added the Bujenje MP:
"On the very first day of the first caucus, I was nominated, seconded, and
voted unopposed, although I was already appointed." Ms Matsiko, a former mass
mobiliser at the defunct Movement Secretariat, was appointed by President
Museveni. She is the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
Ironically, Ms Matsiko's last week's announcement of "a reorganisation of our
members to see how best we can serve the country", came hot on the heels of
open expression of disenchantment by sections of the MPs who had complained
that the party had "imposed on them "docile" and "incompetent" committee
chairpersons. The changes were designed to retain all former committee leaders,
except the dissenters.
Rubanda East MP Pereza Ahabwe, who championed the plea to have chairpersons
reshuffled on the competence card, told Inside Politics that "it was agreed" in
the caucus that leadership of the standing committees should remain unchanged
for two and a half years.
"What changed was the relocation of certain people who were not disciplined
enough. The rest of the leadership remained intact," said Mr Ahabwe, himself a
returned chairman of the Tourism, Trade and Industry committee, suggesting the
move was one aimed at clipping the wings of problematic MPs. It also turned out
that, Buvuuma MP William Nsubuga, another quiet disseer, was the other rebel MP
dislodged over disciplinary issues. Mr Nsubuga was the Finance, Planning and
Economic Development Chairperson.
Although Mr Banyenzaki's refusal to accept the Caucus' ruling, insisting that
he is still substantive Budget Vice Chair, it would seem, has paid dividends,
Ms Matsiko said the MPs' objection was simply a question of sour grapes.
"Out of the 200 plus MPs that I lead, only 38 can be a committee leader, we all
cannot be chairpersons," she said.
The chaos in the NRM has been greeted with joy by an opposition facing the
challenge of small numbers in a House overwhelmingly controlled by the NRM.
Commending the actions of the dissenting NRM MPs, Geoffrey Ekanya (FDC Tororo)
told Inside Politics that "people like Dr Lyomoki are patriots who know they
can survive outside Parliament.
They know when to admit wrong and cannot be forced to say wrong is right". For
his part, Makerere don Dr Jean Barya was more philosophical. "My understanding
is that the issue [in the NRM] is whether decisions are carried out
democratically and you should be bound by them and not that you must toe the
government line," said Dr Barya, who teaches law at Makerere University. "As to
whether A, or B is right, that is a different matter."
It goes without saying that the NRM ensured that serious opposition MPs such as
Abdu Katuntu, Salaam Musumba, Aggrey Awori, and Jack Sabiiti were thrown out of
Parliament because of their stiff opposition against Mr Museveni's
administration.
Political pundits believe that ensuring the defeat of these vocal MPs (and
others such as Norbert Mao, Ken Lukyamuzi who left Parliament for different
reasons); the NRM and the government hoped they would be "safe" in Parliament.
But the absence of the said MPs, it would seem, has served to create a vacuum
in that there was no one seriously challenging the government's policies.
It would now appear that that vacuum has been filled, surprisingly, from within
the NRM itself in the persons of Dr Lyomoki, Mr Banyenzaki and others who have
now come to personify a new emerging trend within the NRM in Parliament;
principled dissenters.
Edward Mulindwa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ocii
I am not going to be abusive as you are, but I will ask you only one thing,
save the posting I have done below for with time you will need it. Have a good
week end my friend.
Em
Toronto
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
----- Original Message -----
From: ocii
To: The First Virtual Network for friends of Uganda
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: [Ugnet] MPs probe Museveni schools in Tanzania
What in fact make you think FDC will never take "any government out of
power"? It all boils down to political tussle, and the FDC have been able to do
just that to the point you are scared shitless(are you a double dealer??), that
you have forgotten it is the NRA/M still in power punk; if not a silly
informer!!
If the FDC will never be able to take over any govt. then why are you so
obsessed with the party? In normal circumstances you would have rubbished the
party aside and moved on; not even mentioning it!! But the fact that you are
instead fighting the FDC, as a "UPC supporter"(smile), and claim they "will
never take any government out of power", is a position that can only come from
an idiot with no strategic political moves; indicating a state of helplessness
you are living in.
What are the guaranttees from you based on your statement below, for the FDC
not to take over power? Political assassinations or what? Silly informers will
never do anything to stop a determine political movement to take over power.
Assassinations or not, cut both ways my friend. So, suck it and check your
head; or someone will eventually check it for you! Heard?
Don't make stupid statement you will eventually be forced to swallow; only
dogs swallow their own vomits!
Ugandans should in unison, hype their suport for the FDC, and continually
exert intense political activities to bring about change. If ten years ago the
NRA/M was a very solid government that could not even heed the call to talk
peace with the ra-tag LRA rebels, but today, the schism in the party is not
only rising, but the party bigwigs have put their tails between their legs too,
to talk peace with the rag-tag rebels, then Mulindwa you are really an idiot,
to notice what really have been ushered into the politics of Uganda by the FDC.
Had the Besigyes not broken rank with the movement gurus, Mu7 would have still
be gloating and calling for the killings of all the LRAs including the
"BANYANYAS"!!(Its called REALISM!! Did you know about it?); vowing never to
talk peace with the "criminals".
But it is good for you to be opening your mouth; for the advantage you have
been reaping, if at all, is under camera. Fakeness never last! And that exactly
is the fate here!
Ocii
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