By George Murumba

10^th Oct 2011:

Who is the NRM Super Minister?

Information reaching Uganda Correspondent indicates that one of the most powerful men in President Yoweri Museveni’s government was behind recent attempts by some Members of Parliament to censure the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga.

Kadaga had been threatened with censure over her refusal to recall Parliament to discuss the controversial and secretive oil Production Sharing Agreements between the government of Uganda and Tullow Oil PLC, a British oil exploration and production company.

Our source said the “Super Minister”, who is known to be one of the top men in the queue to succeed President Museveni, used his contact at State House to issue fake instructions from the President ordering Speaker Kadaga to resist any attempts to push her into recalling parliament.

Gullibly believing that those were genuine instructions from President Museveni [who was on a private visit to India at the time], Kadaga, who is fiercely loyal to her ‘political hero’ President Museveni, swiftly set upon trying to frustrate the MPs’ efforts to have the secretive oil sharing agreements discussed in parliament.

With Kadaga duped, the Super Minister, who is known to be smartly fighting his succession battles behind the scenes, then incited some Members of Parliament to kick-start the process of censuring Museveni loyalist Rebecca Kadaga.

On this occasion however, luck seemed to have been on Kadaga’s side.  One of the MPs who had been approached by the Super Minister’s agents leaked the plot to Kadaga who then dramatically changed her mind and decided to recall parliament to discuss the oil sharing agreements.

Indeed, parliament is due to start debating the oil PSA’s today.  Speaker Kadaga has however slapped tough access conditions in a bid to limit wide circulation of the PSA.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.