Mpuuga to Bobi Wine: I don’t know how to help you
The Masaka Municipality MP, Mr Mathias Mpuuga (right), displays a NUP membership card as the party president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine, (left) looks on at the NUP headquarters in Kamwokya, Kampala, in August 2020. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- NUP’s National Executive Committee earlier resolved to recall Mr Mpuuga from the position of Parliament Commissioner, in addition to calls for him to return the money and tender a national apology. All these directives he has defied, including in a Tuesday media briefing peppered with bravado and defiance.
Following his suspension as National Unity Platform (NUP) deputy president (Buganda region), Nyendo-Mukungwe MP, Mathias Mpuuga said he would consult with members of the party on the way forward.
In a letter addressed to the party president Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine and posted on his X (formerly Twitter) handled, the former Leader of Opposition in Parliament said Friday that: “I've seen a circulating document on social media, purportedly signed by yourself (party President Robert Kyagunlany), in the latest fashion by the party. If indeed it is your document and signature, I appreciate and sympathize with you on the current desperate situation. I appreciate and understand that you are under siege,” said Mr Mpuuga before adding “I don't know how to help you and support you.”
Mr Mpuuga who was recently asked to resign from the parliamentary commission chaired by Speaker Anita Among, whose four of its members, including himself allocated themselves Shs11.7 billion of taxpayers money said he was surprised that he’s accused of failing to provide satisfactory explanation yet he reportedly confessed and apologized to the party leadership.
“In view of the contents of the impugned document, that the person suspended failed to supply a satisfactory explanation, yet the same person was earlier on reported to have confessed and apologised, I don't know how to rescue you and the party from the captors. The prevailing desperate situation and the circumstances we find ourselves in, will afford me more time and space to consult with the rank and file of the party for a way forward. Accept once again my sympathies for the unyielding siege that has impaired judgement at the highest echelons of the party. I remain at your service and that of the party and the country,” he added.
Mr Kyagulanyi yesterday suspended Mr Mpuuga, a day after Buganda Kingdom had called for peace talks between the two.
On Wednesday evening, the intervention of the central Ugandan kingdom had suggested a possible mediated solution to the raging dispute inside NUP, which accuses the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP of corruption.
But contrary to these expectations, one of Mr Kyagulanyi’s first actions upon returning from a trip to Europe was to issue a letter suspending Mr Mpuuga. He accused his deputy of violating Section 9(1) of the Leadership Code Act which prohibits a leader from putting themselves in a position of conflict of interest by participating in deliberations of a public body where he/she is a member and has a personal interest.
Several party meetings held in Mr Kyagulanyi’s absence had failed to decide the fate of Mr Mpuuga, leading to the decisive action of the party president.
“In accordance with article 6.3 (h) and 7.1 (e) of the party constitution, I hereby suspend you from the position of deputy president of the NUP for the Central Region with immediate effect,” the March 27 letter reads.
Yesterday, Mr Mpuuga declined to be drawn on his suspension, saying he had not been officially notified or received the letter.
“I have just seen it on social media,” he said.
The suspension adds to the punitive measures the party is taking against Mr Mpuuga, who they accuse of engaging in corruption in respect to a Shs500 million so-called ‘service award’ he accepted during his tenure as Leader of Opposition in Parliament.
The award was reportedly decided by the Parliamentary Commission on which he sat in May 2022. Three of the other commissioners received Shs400 million of the contentious award.
“You have thus far failed to provide an explanation for engaging in this action which goes against the vision, mission and objectives of the party. It also goes against article 5.3 (b) and (f) of the party constitution which obligates party members to conduct themselves in a manner that does not bring disrepute to the name of the party as well as practice accountable leadership” Mr Kyagulanyi’s letter addressed to Mr Mpuuga reads.
NUP’s National Executive Committee earlier resolved to recall Mr Mpuuga from the position of Parliament Commissioner, in addition to calls for him to return the money and tender a national apology. All these directives he has defied, including in a Tuesday media briefing peppered with bravado and defiance.
His position was reinforced by Speaker of Parliament Anita Among’s rejection, on legal grounds, of NUP’s request that she replaces him as commissioner with Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake.
At the Tuesday press conference, Mr Mpuuga maintained he would not leave the party, and accused the party leadership of grandstanding, seeking selfish material gain and being clueless, among others.
“NUP is my party and I harbour 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,” he said.
