As the leadership row at the National Unity Platform (NUP) intensifies , the Speaker of the National Parliament, Anita Among has stated that NUP President Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine , has no powers to recall his Deputy Mathias Mpuuga as a Commissioner Of Parliament.
This after Mpuuga told the nation that he was not quitting NUP because he a founder member. “I did not join NUP, I was a part of the founding blocks of NUP where I serve as a Deputy President in charge of Buganda. I’m here to reaffirm I’m not leaving NUP”-said Mpuuga at a Press Conference early this week .
In a letter dated March 25, 2024, directed to the NUP Secretary General Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, Anita Among said that under the law, political parties are limited to nominating candidates for the election to the office of Commissioner of Parliament.
She was answering NUP Secretary General Rubongoya’s letter dated March 18, 2024, addressed to her about NUP’s decision to recall Mr Mpuuga as the Commissioner of Parliament and replacing him with Mityana Municipality MP, Hon Francis Zaake.
“Parliamentary Commissioners are elected by Parliament by virtue of section 2 of the Administration of Parliament, Cap 257 and rule 11 (4) of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda. The role of the parties under the law is limited to nominating candidates for election to the office of the commissioner of parliament as stipulated in sub-section 2(2b),” Ms Among’s letter reads in part.
According to the Speaker NUP’s letter has no basis or foundation in law.
“To do so as you (NUP) request would amount to fettering the authority vested in the House by the clear and unambiguous section 5 of the Administration of Parliament Act resulting in undesirable legal consequences in line with the decision of the Constitutional Court of Uganda in Fox Odoi-Oywelowo and James Akampumuza Versus Attorney General, Constitutional petition number 8 of 2003,” Mr Among responded, adding: “I can, therefore, not implement it.”
Mpuuga stated he was going to engage himself in efforts to reclaim the party from dictatorship to put in place avenues for conflict resolution among other pressing issues in the party.
Mpuuga’ s Full Statement Below:
Colleagues, I come to you this morning after days of silence and meditation to address two issues on my next plan in the fight for total liberation of our country.
Questions and speculations have been on as to whether, where and when I am going.
I wish to state that I am a founder member of NUP where I serve as a Deputy President. I am not leaving the party I founded and I’m not doing anything that destroys a young party I participated in establishing with conscience and conviction. At least I’m not yet moved to that level.
Secondly, I have seen a copy of a letter circulating on social media. The owner of the copy is visible from the bottom. The letter is addressed to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, and I’m only informed of the contents by copy. I will not respond thereto, save to restate my position as communicated to the party and the country.
I wish to affirm that I confess no wrong doing whether in law or elementary common sense. The position of the law has been clarified to whoever wished to understand; but to not deliberately slander and defame me for short-term political security.
I wish also to re-assure all comrades in the struggle for a fair Uganda that my commitment has never waned; that I am not and shall never be part of any form of corruption. When we find ourselves disagreeable on anything in our midst, we must find mechanisms for mature resolution; which is different from grandstanding and desire to settle political scores, at the expense of reputations of comrades with whom we struggle to offer the country better leadership.
Ugandans must be encouraged at all times to question the decisions of their leaders; especially those in higher offices, and making critical decisions on their behalf. In the current circumstances, it is also not difficult to tell that the objective was never on accountability because no one provides financial accountability at press conferences and on social media.
The previous days have cast much doubt within the Ugandan populace as to whether our Party is capable of handling the humongous task of liberation and effecting solutions to the political and social challenges our country is facing. We must regain public confidence, trust and demonstrate that we are worthy the peoples support in leading the charge for change and transformation that the Ugandan masses are yearning for.
Whereas Gen. M7 has been candid on his dynasty agenda, including the latest reshuffles in the UPDF that saw his son ascend at the helm of the country’s military, the largest opposition party looks clueless and unable to guide its bruised cadreship. Even the renewal of term of the EC Commissioners who bungled and fidgeted with the last election did not raise the curiosity of the supposed vanguard opposition party!
Let me now assure the entire NUP leadership, membership, supporters and the general public, that NUP is my party and I harbor no intentions whatsoever of leaving; I am going Nowhere, rather I’ll in the coming days embark on a process of instituting internal Party reforms to make it a credible and competent Government in waiting.
To our supporters and followers in the diaspora, we immensely appreciate your contribution to the building of our young party and the quest for a new Uganda in general. You interact with a lot of information, but largely misinformation targeting your justifiable desperation for change. I pledge to you my availability and clarity of mission and purpose in whatever we do to change the trajectory of our country.
Ugandans in the diaspora are desperate to cement their contribution towards change; beyond social media commentary and material support which seem to be a major pre-occupation of many in leadership home. We should be embarking on a joint push for major reforms in our electoral laws and major constitutional shifts to enable diaspora citizens’ participation in our electoral activities beyond manipulating the change agenda by selfish individuals here.
By the end of the planed NUP reform process, arbitrary, obscurantists and deviant work methods, lack of internal conflict resolution mechanisms, nepotism, corruption, greed and abuse of office, extortions, blackmail, defamation and slander, including lack of internal democracy shall only but be practices of the past within our great party.
Finally, in the near future, I’ll be unveiling to the public what next.
