The ruling NRM party is yet to put its house in order as party top dogs Dr. Tanga Odoi, the party Electoral Commission chairperson and Secretary General, Justine Lumumba Kasule continue clashing at every occasion they meet.
The latest development is that the duo clashed during the election of NRM candidates for the East African Legislative Assembly seats.
According to sources, hell broke loose after Dr. Odoi invited the candidates to address the NRM caucus members at State House Entebbe on Tuesday afternoon. The former Kakuuto County, MP Mathias Kasamba was the first on the floor before being interrupted by the Caucus members who demanded for clear guidelines for the polls.
As a result, Dr. Odoi explained to the members that the caucus would elect seven candidates from West, East, Central, North and Kampala regions. He said the other two candidates would come from special interest groups. However, his explanation didn't go down well with Lumumba, who accused the arrogant professor of attempting to rewrite the party's guidelines for electing EALA representatives.
The bubbly Lumumba reportedly argued that there was no justification to move away from the rules that were used to elect the incumbent EALA representatives, adding that the caucus should elect six candidates including four males and two females. Lumumba was supported by female legislators under their umbrella group -Uganda Women Parliament Association (UWOPA) who are pushing for 40 percent of the six slots.
She also reportedly demanded that the party Commission eliminates the Kampala slot from the elections to avoid the confusion of sending seven representatives from NRM as opposed to six. Her submission reportedly angered candidates from Kampala. Sarah Kagingo, the former Special Presidential Assistant on Communication accused Lumumba of attempting to usurp the NRM party Election Commission powers.
The Government Chief Whip, Ruth Nankabirwa attempted to calm down the situation in vain. This forced her to adjourn the meeting for a lunch break to allow the tempers to cool down. The meeting resumed after the lunch break. By the time of filing this story, the candidates had started campaign before the caucus members.
