Deputy Speaker hopeful Thomas Tayebwa has apologised to Ugandans for what he described as lapses by the leadership of the 11th Parliament.
His apology comes amid scrutiny of the former parliament leadership, particularly former Speaker Anita Among, whose residences, offices, and school were recently searched by security as part of an ongoing corruption investigation. Many of these sites are still considered crime scenes.
“I want to take this opportunity to apologize to the nation on behalf of the leadership of Parliament,” Tayebwa said, acknowledging that past mistakes went unchecked.
He, however, promised to restore the glory of the August House in the shortest possible time if entrusted with the role by MPs.
“We didn’t put some break; we went on a pedestrian, and we went beyond. I really, really want to apologize to the nation over what went wrong. I do believe that working together and without blaming anyone, but focusing on where we are going, we are going to change that institution in the shortest possible period,”he said.
He thanked President Museveni, CDF Muhoozi, and the NRM leadership for listening to him and understanding his vision, promising to focus on the tasks ahead.
“I will focus on the task. The President has humbled me so much. He’s been my, my major defendant, comforter and then my senior brother, General MK, and my elder and Chief Listener General Salim Saleh and members of the NRM caucus who have really listened to me deeply, I’m really humbled,” he said.
Tayebwa also noted that reforming Parliament would not take him long, adding that even an hour would be enough for him to set things right.
“We are going to transform this house. By the way, I can even put a deadline that house to reform it. I don’t need more than one hour of decision making, to reform that house to change it completely, because I only need to follow processes,” Tayebwa said.
Tayebwa made the statement shortly after receiving endorsement from the NRM CEC, which met yesterday at State House.
All aspiring NRM candidates for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker withdrew from the race, throwing their weight behind Jacob Oboth-Oboth for Speaker and Thomas Tayebwa for Deputy Speaker.
Today, May 25, the 12th Parliament will elect its Speaker and Deputy Speaker. NRM is backing Oboth-Oboth and Tayebwa, while opposition parties including NUP, ANT, and FDC support Paul Mwiru for the Speaker position.
