We are not stranded, rebel MPs tell NRM
NRM secretary general Justine Lumumba arrives at the party headquarters in Kampala yesterday. Ms Lumumba said Independent and rebel MPs will not be registered as NRM party members. However, the rebel MPs lashed out at Ms Lumumba, saying they are not desperate to return to the ruling party. PHOTO BY FAISWAL KASIRYE
Kampala- The NRM Secretary General, Ms Justine Lumumba, has said rebel MPs, Independents in Parliament and people from other parties would not be allowed to register again as party members.
“Independents and people from other parties wishing to register as NRM members will have to take an oath before they can be allowed to get registered,” Ms Lumumba said at a press conference at the party headquarters in Kampala yesterday.
“We don’t expect them [rebel MPs] to get registered due to their case (contesting their expulsion) in court. If court decides (in their favour), the Central Executive Committee that expelled them will assess their situation and decide their fate,” she added.
Speaking in response to a stance by NRM to block them should they attempt to register afresh as party members, Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), said they are not desperate for a belonging.
“Who has told her that we are on the veranda (stranded)? They chased us from the party and she is misleading the public that there is a mad rush to get registered. She is just washing herself of that shame because the registration has been a flop,” Mr Ssekikubo said yesterday.
He asked Ms Lumumba to tread carefully and glance over her shoulders to see what befell her predecessor Amama Mbabazi who presided over their “crucifixion”.
“Ms Lumumba shouldn’t be over enthusiastic. She should not go unwittingly because if it was not for our case, the former secretary general (Mbabazi) would be on the street as a common Ugandan,” the legislator said.
Mr Mbabazi was sacked as prime minister as well as the NRM secretary general last year.
Mr Ssekikubo said that fresh registration of NRM members could technically mean that the party could not even be having a chairman. “How do you be a leader of a non-existent membership?” he asked.
Mr Ssekikubo, Mr Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East MP), Mr Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West) and Mr Mohammed Nsereko (Kampala Central) were expelled from the party last year.
They were accused of, among other things, deviating from party positions and criticising President Museveni, also the party chairman.
This followed a protracted legal battle on which they still hang as MPs.
