Muntu explains why he quit ANT top job

KAMPALA- On Friday, news of Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu’s decision to relinquish power as the national coordinator of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), a party he formed just a year ago, spread everywhere.

Gen Muntu’s decision is premised on the party’s constitutional Article 9(2.6) that requires all leaders to quit office before seeking election as President, Daily Monitor has learnt.

However, this means that should he fail to win the party flag, Gen Muntu will become an underdog in the party because he will not return to his former position of national coordinator. But he seems unbothered with what comes after his nomination slated for Wednesday or Thursday. “I have been a national coordinator, so it is in the spirit of ensuring that there is that separation that is consistent with the party constitution,” Gen Muntu said.

He said the model creates confidence within the party, especially where a leader can willfully handover to other leaders. “It was definitely the right thing to do that I relinquish the position of the party so that another leader can lead,” Gen Muntu said.

He tendered in his resignation on Friday after appointing Ms Alaso to take on the role of national coordinator. Ms Alaso is the deputy national coordinator in charge of Finance and Administration.

Gen Muntu said the ANT model is meant to immunise the leader and the party. According to Gen Muntu, the tendency in the country has been that a leader who holds the top most position is tempted to build two programmes and activities for purposes of promoting him or herself.

Ms Alaso told Daily Monitor that the party has got confidence in leaders who respect its systems, with Gen Muntu leading by example. “He is no longer serving in our office as a party coordinator,” she said.

The party will hold its inaugural National Delegates Conference on August 6, during which they will endorse the party’s presidential flag bearer and elect a new national coordinator.

“If he loses the flag, he continues to be an ordinary member of the party, available for deployment,” said Ms Alaso.
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