While Today's Press Confrence at the NUP head offices on Bombo road, the Chairperson of the Buganda Caucus in Parliament, Muwanga Kivumbi, confirmed that they engaged in a lengthy talk with both President Yoweri Museveni & Speaker, Anita Among, on Thursday 22nd October 2024, morning, before the chaotic sitting in the afternoon.
ChimpReports has exclusively established that Kivumbi, who represents Butambala County, spoke to Museveni for 15 minutes on the phone during an ongoing audience with Among.
According to Muwanga Kivumbi, he told Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, the party president that he sought a harmonization meeting with the Speaker and, indeed, Among granted him the audience owed to the sensitivity of the Coffee Amendment Bill.
“The Speaker couldn’t deny an audience to a Buganda Caucus boss. She wanted to know his prayers and look for a way forward,” said Kivumbi
During the meeting, Kivumbi asked Among to use her powers as Speaker to indefinitely defer the bill.
Kivubi said the Speaker decided to avoid a potential irregularity of shelving the bill but instead implored the Buganda Caucus boss to mobilize wider and defeat the bill on the floor of Parliament.
“The Speaker asked me to mobilize my colleagues if i wanted my position to carry the day and said it was within her powers to grant members of the Caucus audience but could not influence the outcome,” -Kivumbi.
Kivumbi noted that when both parties failed to agree with the mobilization proposal, the Speaker decided to call the President.
“A phone call was made to Plot 1 (State House), and i had the opportunity to make my case to the President. I spoke to him (Museveni) for 15 minutes, and the Speaker made a commitment to ensure that she llowed to make his case,” Kivumbi.
As a result, during the debate on Thursday afternoon, all members of the Buganda caucus were given a chance to speak, including those who didn’t rise up, to ensure fairness.
Hon. Kivumbi and his group, however, failed to do enough to rally other MPs to support them and instead preferred to retreat to the Buganda Caucus.
The Coffee Amendment Bill, aimed at mainstreaming the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to the mother Ministry of Agriculture, is part of the wider rationalization of government agencies to cease duplications, wasteful expenditure, and realign service delivery.
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