East African Legislative Assembly—EALA outgoing Member, Lydia Wanyoto, has been blocked from standing for re-election after failing to secure NRM party nomination on Monday.
The NRM caucus meeting on Monday morning was adjourned for several hours following resistance from some MPs who argued that Wanyoto should not be elected for the seat again.
According to sources in the NRM caucus, the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi had questioned why Wanyoto had been locked out of the nominations, citing a pending court decision on third term. Debate ensued with some legislators demanding that Wanyoto steps down while others pushed for her re-election.
Later in the afternoon, top NRM officials were in another closed-door meeting in the VIP room of Parliament to consider all legal interpretations of the Court ruling on MP Wanyoto. The officials included Mbabazi, Vice President Edward Sekandi, the NRM caucus vice chairperson David Bahati, Acting Chief Whip Daudi Migereko, Deputy Attorney General Fredrick Ruhindi and Wanyoto.
Wanyoto insisted that the East African Court of Justice had on May 19th ruled in her favour allowing her to contest for another term. But Ruhindi disagreed that the same court cannot rule against the treaty. Her battle is hinged on Article 51 of the Treaty which prescribes the tenure of every legislator as five years and a further term of five years. Wanyoto, however, wants to go for a third term and the contention in court is on the interpretation of the wording "a further term of five years."
After four hours of agreeing to disagree, a decision to drop Wanyoto from the race was finally reached. Wanyoto, talking to journalists shortly after the heated discussion, still hoped her nomination would go through. She was still convinced that she had another chance at the Assembly. After four hours of the closed door meeting Wanyoto emerged from the meeting looking worn out and with red eyes, perhaps a sign of the rigorous process to convince the top officials.
Sources say, Mbabazi communicated to the caucus that there was no need to vote people who would later be involved in court battles over the legality of the elections.
Prof. Elijah Mushemeza, the vice chairperson of NRM Electoral Commission also reportedly told the meeting that Wanyoto was not eligible to stand again and that is why her nomination was not approved.
By 7.45pm other aspirants were busy making their last moves to convince fellow party members to vote for them. A total of 25 candidates were nominated and six of these will be forwarded to Parliament for approval.
