A look at the highs and lows of Amama By Yasiin Mugerwa As Amama Mbabazi hands over office to Dr Ruhakana Rugunda today, Daily Monitor’s Yasiin Mugerwa explores the highs and lows of President Museven’s shortest-serving prime minister Former prime minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi is expected to hand over office today, 18 days after President Museveni sacked him in a lone reshuffle which sparked off speculation of a potential fall out within the ruling NRM party. Mr Mbabazi had been prime minister for three years, three months and 24 days, setting a record as the shortest-serving premier of the NRM regime. But how will Mbabazi’s short-lived but arguably the most tumultuous tenure as Leader of Government Business be remembered? As the first prime minister to answer “off-the-cuff” questions about government during the Prime Minister’s Question Time, Mr Mbabazi broke ground the moment he took office, exhibiting potential leadership skills, notwithstanding alleged ‘skeletons’ in his closet. In a position that rarely rewards sloppiness, and in the face of a frequently hostile Parliament, Mr Mbabazi continued to stake out strong and laudable positions on many of the most contested bills in Parliament. Below, we highlight his highs and lows as prime minister. Oil saga - Mbabazi’s first test (Mbabazi and Onek benefited from sale of oil production rights) The October 2011 special parliamentary debate on the oil sector and claims that senior government officials had pocked bribes in order to influence award of deals came as the first major test for Mr Mbabazi as prime minister. Besides the bribery claims, MPs led by Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) protested the secretive manner in which government was handling oil contracts. Despite attempts by government to block the House recall, the fired-up legislators marshalled enough signatures to compel Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to cause a special sitting. After days of heated debate, MPs voted to place a moratorium on executing oil contracts and transactions on the Executive until Parliament had passed all necessary laws. An ad-hoc committee would also be formed to investigate the bribery allegations against the ministers, who included Mr Mbabazi. Despite the President warning that Parliament was passing “precarious” resolutions, Mr Mbabazi could not stop the MPs. It took the intervention of President Museveni days later, in Kyankwanzi, to convince NRM MPs to “overturn” the “unfriendly” resolutions. In what looked like a further blow, Mr Mbabazi could not push through his proposal of MPs annulling what they had passed in Parliament. According to Mr Ofwono Opondo, NRM deputy spokesperson, the fact that some MPs walked out on the President during that stormy discussion was a reflection of inefficiency on the Executive’s part, whom he said were telling lies to the President. Two years later, Parliament passed two oil bills, which sought to promote policy formulation, coordination and management of petroleum refining, gas processing and conversion, transportation and storage..
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 22:48:18 +0000
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