Some NUP leaders are directly attacking Mpuuga (R) as Bobi Wine (L) looks on
All is not well within the National Unity Platform (NUP), a nascent political party that gave the ruling NRM a run for its money during the 2021 general elections.
Credible sources indicate that there’s a lot of infighting within NUP so much that its top leaders can’t trust each other.
It should be noted that when NUP emerged three years back, many Ugandans were skeptical about its strength, but the reassurance largely came from the credibility brought by a group of MPs mainly from DP’s pressure group Suubi.
While many loathed them for their perceived pride and arrogance, others thought that this was such a plus to the fame of NUP principal Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
However, President Yoweri Museveni vowed to deal with this group decisively.
Mpuuga becomes LOP
One of the Suubi group members, Mathias Mpuuga was named vice president in charge of Buganda region and indeed used his experience and influence in a region where he had served the Kabaka as youth minister to give NUP resounding victory.
He was later made the current Leader of Opposition in Parliament
However, Mpuuga didn’t just sail through to the LoP position as some top NUP leaders at Kamwokya had preferred John Baptist Nambeshe to apparently balance regions, but faced resistance from Buganda and the catholic church.
DP Block members dropped
It was not only Mpuuga and his Ssuubi associates that joined NUP, there were others from the DP including Suleiman Kidandala, Kenneth Paul Kakande, Mukaku Lubega, Ssempala Kigozi Sajjalyabeene and Michael Mabikke among others. These were all dropped despite having worked tirelessly in the initial stages of the people power movement and the party formation.
Observers think this was the first level of Kyagulanyi’s destruction of his own party by accepting to lose such brains.
Others who left different parties to join Kyagulanyi led People Power Movement and later NUP include David Lukyamuzi Kalwanga, Patrick Nsamba Oshabe and Derrick Nyeko all from NRM.
Two years down the road, insiders say, former DP members who stuck with NUP seem frustrated as they are being referred to as DP members instead of NUP to which they belong.
“They feel discriminated. It’s like they are not trusted,” says a source privy to the internal operations of NUP.
But sources say the issue is about their perceived arrogance since they continue to regard themselves as brain powers and look down on some Kamwokya based leaders.
The former DP group is seen through flamboyant Medard Lubega Sseggona who does not mince words and does not entertain the nonsense from the so-called foot soldiers, Muwanga Kivumbi, equally unwelcoming to Kamwokya mediocrity, Betty Nambooze who is currently indisposed and Mathias Mpuuga who is more accommodative than the rest of the group yet he is the one that the Kamwokya group is most afraid of.
Against this background, insiders say some top NUP leaders have resorted to using elements within the party against Mpuuga. The attackers mainly on social media are led by none other than party deputy spokesman, Waiswa Mufumbiro.
Waiswa was a guild president at UCU in 2000 where he was accused of embezzlement. At the time, he subscribed to the FDC which sought to discipline him over his inappropriate conduct but he protested and ended up defecting to the DP
In the 2021 general elections, Mufumbiro contested in Jinja Municipality West, but lost to FDC’s Timothy Batuwa.
Some NUP members aren’t happy that Waiswa being the NUP deputy spokesman is attacking fellow senior leaders and the principal (Bobi Wine) is just looking on. Waiswa has been telling whoever cares that Bobi Wine sent him to bring down Mpuuga because he is very ambitious.
Waiswa is not new to this kind of trade. Him along with close associate Moses Bigirwa did exactly that during their DP times, attacking anyone opposed to DP president Norbert Mao. The two also secretly worked very well with security agencies especially former IGP Kale Kaihura along with EALA MP, Fred Mukasa Mbidde and Hakim Kizza who is now a KCCA councilor.
Waiswa has been heard in several circles attacking Mpuuga, saying that Mpuuga is building a political base to rival Bobi Wine. He says Mpuuga, a host of MPs loyal to him and his old friends from DP including the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago harbor presidential ambitions and they have since settled on Mpuuga and according to Waiswa everything must be done to undermine Mpuuga by tainting his image.
Some MPs privy to this friction are normally heard in whispers wondering why the same Waiswa who draws a salary of Shs2 million from their contributions continues to insult them. Others are concerned that people like Waiswa have driven Kyagulanyi into a self-destruction mode.
“It’s not good to continue attacking the same members that gifted the party with 10 million shillings each at the beginning of the term, the ones who continue to give the party 1 million shillings per month. They also enable the party to receive funds from the Electoral Commission,” a source says.
Party leaders are also concerned with Bobi’s trips abroad. They argue that if trips are about the struggle, why should he travel with musical partners like Nubian Li and selector Davie instead of party chiefs like secretary General Louis Rubongoya or at least the LoP who also doubles as the deputy president-Buganda region.
What is the future of NUP without any formal party structures?
The bickering within NUP doesn’t advance the struggle but works to entrench the ruling NRM.
