President Yoweri Museveni has welcomed the endorsement of Jacob Marksons Oboth-Oboth and Thomas Tayebwa as the 12th Parliament NRM candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, following Sunday’s caucus meeting at State House Entebbe.
In a statement issued after meeting NRM legislators and allied independents, Museveni congratulated the two leaders and urged members of the ruling party to remain guided by ideology rather than personalities when choosing leaders.
“Since the inception of the NRM, we have rejected bad politics. When choosing leaders, we must first ask what needs to be done for the people before asking who should do it,” Museveni said.
He added that politics should reject “identity, religion, tribalism and gender chauvinism” and instead focus on wealth creation and socio-economic transformation through agriculture, services, artisanship and information technology.
The endorsement effectively positions Oboth-Oboth, the MP for West Budama South and former Defence Minister, and Tayebwa, the outgoing Deputy Speaker and MP for Ruhinda North, as overwhelming favourites in Monday’s election of parliamentary presiding officers given the NRM’s commanding majority in the House.
The NRM caucus endorsement followed a dramatic consolidation of support within the ruling party after all other aspirants for both positions reportedly withdrew from the races. Party insiders said the caucus adopted recommendations earlier made by the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC).
According to reports, at least 18 MPs who had expressed interest in contesting for Speaker and Deputy Speaker stepped down before the caucus vote, paving the way for a consensus endorsement.
Among those who had sought the Speakership was Persis Namuganza, while several MPs had expressed interest in the Deputy Speakership.
Following the endorsement, some of the former aspirants, including Persis Namuganza, Dennis Namara and Susan Nsambu, took to social media to congratulate Oboth-Oboth and Tayebwa while explaining their decisions to withdraw and rallying supporters behind the party position.
The development marks the culmination of weeks of intense lobbying that followed the withdrawal of former Speaker Anita Annet Among from the race.
While Oboth-Oboth’s endorsement has largely attracted broad acceptance within NRM circles, the backing of Tayebwa for another term as Deputy Speaker has triggered intense debate on social media.
Critics argue that Tayebwa served as Deputy Speaker throughout the tenure of the 11th Parliament under Anita Among and therefore cannot be completely insulated from the ills abuses of public resources that have dogged the outgoing parliamentary leadership.
Among’s political troubles escalated in recent days amid investigations and scrutiny over wealth accumulation, leading to her withdrawal from the Speakership contest.
Several commentators have questioned why Tayebwa emerged politically unscathed despite having worked closely with Among for four years.
Among the voices weighing into the debate is Ronald Amanyire, the interdicted Principal Road Safety Officer at the Ministry of Works and Transport, who argued that the contrasting treatment of the two leaders has fuelled perceptions of selective accountability.
“It is difficult for any independent observer to ignore the regional undertones in the NRM’s decision,” Amanyire wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
He argued that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker operate as a constitutional team and questioned the logic of treating one office holder as entirely detached from practices that allegedly characterised parliamentary leadership during their joint tenure.
Amanyire further contended that if lifestyle audits are not considered a central anti-corruption tool, as the President previously suggested, then scrutiny of Among’s lifestyle while leaving other public officials untouched creates perceptions of unequal enforcement.
“The pattern of selective scrutiny is unmistakable,” he wrote, adding that such developments risk reinforcing public perceptions that anti-corruption efforts are influenced by political and regional considerations rather than uniform principles.
The controversy has also drawn in prominent public figures, including Venansius Baryamureeba, who has been actively commenting on the unfolding parliamentary leadership contest on X.
A section of commentators has argued that the NRM’s choices reflect a pragmatic effort to preserve institutional continuity while distancing Parliament from the controversies that engulfed the outgoing leadership.
Others maintain that retaining Tayebwa while effectively ending Among’s bid for a second term raises legitimate questions about accountability within the institution and whether responsibility for controversial decisions can be separated between the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
The debate has also intersected with broader concerns raised in recent days by women’s rights advocates and female politicians who had pushed for gender balance in Parliament’s top leadership following Among’s exit from the race.
With both Oboth-Oboth and Tayebwa endorsed for the two top positions, the 12th Parliament is poised to begin with an all-male leadership team if the pair secure victory in Monday’s election. For the NRM leadership, however, Sunday’s caucus meeting appeared aimed at projecting unity ahead of the opening sitting of the 12th Parliament.
Museveni’s message to legislators focused less on individual personalities and more on what he described as the movement’s long-standing ideological principle of prioritising national interests over personal ambitions.
With the caucus now firmly behind Oboth-Oboth and Tayebwa, attention shifts to Monday’s parliamentary sitting at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, where MPs will formally elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and set the tone for the next five years of legislative politics in Uganda.
The National Unity Platform (NUP) has fronted Paul Mwiru as the opposition candidate while the Democratic Party (DP) party president, Norbert Mao, who has been riding on the DP/NRM Corporation Agreement of 2022 as possible maneuver for his bid to lead the August House.
After the endorsement, Tayebwa, while talking to the journalists, apologized to the country for the excesses in the 11th Parliament where he was Deputy Speaker.