We all thought that the election was long gone and over, but alas, brace for a new race. Reports from Kampala indicate that the seat for speaker might become a hotly contested one. This is a good sign, as it shows that even the members of Parliament are dissatisfied with the current speaker, Edward Ssekandi. His legacy has left so much to be desired, and has been widely seen as the president’s puppet. Ssekandi presided over a fake and corrupt parliament, and towards the end of his term, more than 70 MPs lost their seats – which in hindsight, could not have happened if the speaker was serious into his job and guided the errant members of parliament wisely. As it turned out, MPs who stood as independents when they had joined parliament as party members ceased to be members of parliament, according to the legal interpretation by the constitutional court.

But what does the race for new speaker mean for us Ugandans? Shall we finally get a speaker that does not dance to the whistles of the president, but instead, listens to our voices through our representatives? Or shall we in fact, be treated to another musket that can be pulled and shoved into the direction that the president and his associates chose? We can just hope, only hope that we would get an independent minded speaker, regardless of which party they belong, to restore some sort of dignity to the house.

If we are to go by the reports from Uganda’s local press, and they are usually true, Rebecca Kadaga is the stooge to be pushed through. But if the other members within the NRM chose to depart from this choice and seek own selection, we could then experience some positive political dramma. I read that General Jim Muhwezi and Hon. Amama Mbabazi are thinking about the opportunity. Anti corruption icon Nandala Mafabi is also in the fray, while a host of other NRM MPs are showing an interest. If President Museveni loves Uganda, he should stay away from interfering in this race. After all, it is very unlikely that a non NRM will win.

Finally, Kampala mayor election was won by the opposition. Erias Lukwago trounced his rival Peter Ssematimba. In a show of goodwill, yesterday Peter Ssematimba conceded to his opponent while speaking to the press and promised to work towards supporting the efforts of making Kampala a better and cleaner metropolis. On the other hand, the incidents following Lukwago’s win left much to be desired. He declared how he had defeated the President who visibly had a hand in trying to engineer a win for Lukwago’s rival. Also, his victory convoy was halted by police and chaos ensued as his supporters got involved in a scuffle with the police. Moreover, nobody knows for sure how the two roles of Lord Mayor and executive director will work out, and if the two officials will work together to develop the city’s decaying infrastructure or if they will bicker over power, and frustrate each other. I know that the thousands who voted Lukwago wanted to see change come to the city of Kampala. Lukwago and the party of President Museveni should therefore not act like children. They have their differences, yes, we all have differing opinions, but that does not mean we must not work together for the people of Uganda. The voices of Ugandans, and specifically the people of Kampala is to have better infrastructure, improved garbage and waste management, a clean city, de-congestion of the city, services delivery such as water, etc. These should be the aspirations of both the government and the opposition, and not to work together to achieve this will be an over extension of myopic and selfish leadership over the people of Kampala.