Uganda’s health minister Jane Ruth Aceng Wednesday announced a shock withdrawal of her interests in the speakership race, few hours after she picked nomination forms on Tuesday.
“I’ve taken a decision to withdraw my intention to stand for the position of speaker of parliament,” she announced on social media.
“I feel its only proper that I step down,” she added in a March 22 letter addressed to the ruling National Resistance (NRM) party Electoral Commission.
On Tuesday, Aceng through her aide was among the 13 party legislators that declared candidacy on intent to replace Ugandan Speaker Jacob Oulanyah who died from a US hospital on Sunday.
“I have not had enough time to consult my party leadership, colleagues and family,” she said of her ambitions made public on March 22.
Aceng is now pledging to “continue serving diligently in her current capacity as health minister.”
All candidates that picked nomination forms had been cleared by the party’s EC to face vetting by the Central Executive Committee (CEC) ahead of Thursday’s NRM Caucus that decides NRM’s preferred candidate.
Parliamentarians will swiftly vote for a new speaker on March 25 after the position fell vacant on March 20.
