Oulanyah has not chaired any parliamentary session for over a year now. The Deputy Speaker and Kadaga, who is preparing for a contest for the Speaker’s job when the position falls vacant in May this year, have been conflicting over chairing the house since the 2016 speaker’s race, in which Oulanyah had sought to unseat Kadaga.
Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah declined to
proceed with today’s Parliament sitting, even though this was the first time in over a year that he was chairing the house. He said he could not continue with Parliamentary business when his superior is mourning.
Through his official
Twitter Handle, Oulannyah had communicated on Tuesday evening that he would be chairing the House today and that
plenary would start at exactly 2 p.m. In the same tweet, he shared the day’s Order
Paper. But this came moments after Koboko Woman MP, Margaret
Babadiri questioned the whereabouts of the Deputy Speaker at a time when Kadaga is mourning her niece, who died on Monday.
Oulanyah has not
chaired any parliamentary session for over a year now. The Deputy Speaker and
Kadaga, who is preparing for a contest for the Speaker’s job when the position
falls vacant in May this year, have been conflicting over chairing the house
since the 2016 speaker’s race, in which Oulanyah had sought to unseat Kadaga.
Today Oulanyah,
walked into the Chamber at 2:07 pm and after the Parliament’s prayer
by the Clerk, went ahead to make his communication to the House noting that
he had even forgotten how the Chamber looks like.
“I was called yesterday after 4 pm by my Principal
Private Secretary that I needed to come to the House to preside and I said, yes I will
come as Deputy Speaker in the absence of the Speaker, I preside,” he reported. But he added that the reason for his coming put him between a rock and a hard place because it was based on an emotionally difficult situation.
//Cue in; “so there was…
Cue out…situations to
balance.”//
He shared a
Bible verse in Ecclesiastes 3:13 that highlight different seasons in human
life. “As you are aware, I
haven’t been in this house for a bit of time and I come now at the time like
this. I am a human being and one of the things I still have is something we
call emotional intelligence. Your pain is my pain, your joy is joy, the glory
is yours, this is the term of connection that binds us as human beings and if
we apply them, we celebrate in our lives,” said Oulanyah.
Oulanyah said that they would not be able to proceed with the sitting in
solidarity with the Speaker who lost a dear one. He said that this is a moment
for all of them as legislators to stand with the family during a burial at
Kamuli.
//Cue in; “from the moment…
Cue out…with the family.”//
Oulanyah who kept the
sitting for only 40 minutes went about the items on the order paper by
providing guidance on how these would be handled at a later stage. But he added that even if
this was the last opportunity given to him to preside over the 10th
Parliament, he is willing to let go because it is not human for him to proceed.
Erute South MP, Odur
Jonathan took to the floor on behalf of the Leader of Opposition to welcome the
Deputy Speaker back and thanked him for the wise guidance to the House.
//Cue in; “Mr Speaker
we…
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10.”//
Ruth Nankabirwa, the Government
Chief Whip equally took to the floor saying that it was only proper that a voice comes from the government and the ruling National Resistance Movement –NRM
parliamentary caucus to congratulate Oulanyah on his win in Omoro County
parliamentary election and also delivering a victory to the party.
The Deputy Speaker
adjourned the House to Thursday 11 a.m. to handle matters on the order paper so
that members can today be allowed to travel for burial in Kamuli.
