Nothing better illustrates the fractured relationship between Anita Among, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), than a report that has never seen the light of day until now.
LoP Ssenyonyi captured the imagination of the Ugandan public between August and September 2022 when, while chairman of the House Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase), he spotlighted a litany of outrages at the Ugandan national airline.
In January 2023, Speaker Among ordered Cosase’s last oeuvre to be shelved. The Speaker was succinct in justifying her decision. The final report, she announced, had been leaked.
When LoP Ssenyonyi failed to call the decision weak, Speaker Among was unrelenting in her criticism. She said the speed with which Mr Ssenyonyi, then chairman of Cosase, addressed the issues raised in the Auditor General’s report left much to be desired.
“I know what I’m talking about,” said the Speaker of the House of Representatives. “I was once chairman of that committee.”
The three sessions that dealt with the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024, at the end of this year, went out of their way to show how there is no love lost between the House Speaker and the LoP. Mr Ssenyonyi scored two rather short-lived victories.
“To give you certainty, these members are not standing up because they are challenging you. “We insist on adhering to the (parliament’s) rules (of procedure) which provide for a modus operandi on how a decision or pronouncement of the Speaker “It is therefore not undisciplined for members to put themselves forward,” Ssenyonyi told reporters late last month to Among, after a second attempt was made to read the bill.
Before a physical count was conducted, the Speaker’s microphone in the House picked her up and made what appeared to be a statement laced with tribal innuendo.
Protesting her innocence, the Speaker and communications team of the House of Representatives clarified that Ms. Among, during the consultation with the Clerk at the table, “instructed the Chief Government Whip (Mr. Hamson Obua) not to allow tribal sentiments to overshadow the would obscure the general intention of the bill. .”
Yet perhaps it is not surprising that Ssenyonyi has not let the issue go away. He is adamant in his demand for an apology. This has led to the deterioration of relations between two key figures in the House of Representatives.
“From the outset I would like to say that I have been quoted out of context. Be that as it may, this House is a House of Representatives, it is the custodian of the rules of procedure and the House of Representatives, and if anyone feels that I have said what the Leader of the Opposition said, I would urge that Member to provide evidence to take. and lay down on the table and once it is true that I said what he said, I can apologize to this country and the people affected by it. But before that happens, I won’t do it because it’s not true,” Among said recently.
The passing of the Coffee Act on November 6 did not just pass by. The House of Representatives descended into a farce, with unidentified people doing everything they could to ensure that the bill, which, among other things, dissolved the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), was given the green light.
“When we return to Parliament I will ask her (Speaker Among). Now that you say I was wrong in claiming they were security operatives, tell us who invaded Parliament now that you know,” Ssenyonyi recently said after the Speaker of the House of Representatives. ordered that what he had said about it should be expunged from the Hansard.
It is clear that the gloves will remain off as Uganda’s 11th parliament enters the last of a five-year mandate. But at what price?
Ms Sarah Bireete, the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Governance (CCG), attributes the clash to the little attention paid to the principles of democracy that enable tolerance, something the duo should appreciate during their time in office.
“It is a reflection of little understanding of the multi-party dispensation,” Ms Bireete told Sunday Monitor, adding that there is “a need for mutual respect from both leaders” if they are both to effectively fulfill the expected role.
On his part, Mr Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a political analyst, believes that the standoff between the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the LoP is merely a reflection of the broader political situation in the country.
“We have a base of politics of intolerance and this is reflected in the two leaders. The problem is not with the two, it is with the political system in Uganda. From the beginning, when the president wins the elections, he promises to get rid of the opposition,” he said, adding: “In other words, the political competition here is not about finding ideas to save the nation to build up; it is finding a way to undermine your colleague.”
Mr Ndebesa further stated that such reflection frustrates the expectations enshrined in the Constitution.
“The debate in Parliament is about winning at all costs and that means that even if someone has views from the other side, you don’t listen to those views. That was not what our Constitution intended, so no one wants to tolerate the other. Therefore, no matter what comes up in Parliament, those with a majority will win (thus giving off a sense of dictatorship), he said, adding: “I don’t think they are carrying out personal vendettas against each other. They just don’t want to listen to each other at all.”
The political analyst nevertheless warns that the friction could lead to regrettable circumstances if it is not contained.
“Of course the citizens and the country are the losers. If you don’t have shared interests that would bring the country together, but instead have this kind of polarization where no one wants to listen to each other, this will ultimately be reflected in the faces of the voters who also do not tolerate each other.” he said.
He added: “The end result will be a polarized political class, society and country, causing the country to fall apart. We as a nation do not cherish the values of tolerance.”
Among’s fractured relationship with Ssenyonyi is significantly different from what she shared with his predecessor, Mr Mathias Mpuuga.
After Mr Mpuuga delivered his handover speech on January 9, the Speaker made it clear that along with Mr Thomas Tayebwa, her deputy, little or no regret was shared because “we are your friends and we will remain your friends”.
She further noted that Mr Mpuuga “has done a good job as LoP and this country will forever be indebted to you”.
Observers note that it was telling that Among, while asking Ssenyonyi to deliver his first speech as the LoP, called the Nakawa West lawmaker “my son.”
A dynamic between superior and inferior was immediately created, which always had to end in a dialectical contradiction. Ssenyonyi, in setting out his message, emphasized that he intended to hold leaders to account.
“I would urge that where we disagree, and we will have numerous opportunities to disagree, I hope that we can disagree respectfully and that there will be room for disagreement and for diverse positions,” Ssenyonyi said on January 9.
Since then, there has been no shortage of divisions between the two top figures in the House of Representatives. This culminated in the vast majority of opposition lawmakers boycotting the three-day opening meeting of four regional plenary sessions that Among wanted to popularize.
Previously, Ssenyonyi had also called on opposition lawmakers to boycott attending the State-of-the-Nation Address and the reading of the National Budget for the 2024/25 Financial Year, both held at Kololo Independence Grounds in June .
Due to the difficult deliberations on the Coffee Act, the plenary meeting was suspended indefinitely (sine die). Ssenyonyi has made it abundantly clear that when House of Representatives sessions resume, leaders will continue to be held accountable.
Mr Ssenyonyi will mark one year as LoP next month. Although December brings good news, it does not promise to be a cheerful season.
“Some of your members are in the hospital, some of your members are in detention. I don’t know if you are worried because you are smiling. You are happy and yet I call on you as our leader,” said a visibly annoyed Ssenyonyi filed in the wake of the passage of the coffee law on November 6.