What next for NUP after LoP fight

The dust seems to have settled after there was a seemingly peaceful transfer of power when Mathias Mpuuga ( Nyendo- Mukungwe)  handed over the Leader of Opposition ( LoP)  seat to Joel Ssenyonyi  (Nakawa West).  

With their eternal rival  President Museveni being accused of not wanting to relinquish power, the Opposition has always endeavoured to distinguish itself from the former guerrilla leader with changing leadership in Parliament.   

Ever since the LoP position was instituted in 2016, with the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) taking the mantle as the largest political party, only Morris Ogenga Latigo, the former Ogago County Member of Parliament, has served a full five-year term.  

Nathan Nandala Mafabi, Philip Wafula Oguttu,   Winifred Kiiza and Betty  Aol Ochan served not more than two and a half years due to various reasons.  

When it was Mpuuga’s turn to hand over he did it without showing any emotions crediting his constituents for starting the journey that has catapulted him onto the national scene.  

Mpuuga, who was handed the office of Parliamentary Commissioner by National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi  Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, described  Ssenyonyi as  “young  and  “ reasonable”  man who deserves support to continue the efforts he has started. 

“I am bringing this out to appeal to all of us to understand that we occupy this public space for a purpose and that purpose must not be for the sake of it but to change the trajectory of this country we call home. 

And when we are members of Parliament then that space is more distinct because the call for duty is beyond the ordinary. 

And we must be here and look at each other from both sides of the aisle as servants of the people. And at all times, we must invite common good to prevail,” Mpuuga who has been in Parliament since 2011,   said. 

Ssenyonyi returned the favour by crediting Mpuuga for laying  “a good foundation” which he will use to get the work done. 

“To my colleagues, the people of Uganda have a lot of hope in us. I see that in the way they pay attention to the work that we do, and in the way they critique us because they don’t expect us to goof, give up. 

That should be encouraged because that means that people have a lot of hope in us. They expect better from us. Let’s be their voice,” Ssenyonyi, who is a debutant in Parliament, said, adding that he would not let Ugandans down. Though they were all smiles  Mpuuga indirectly acknowledged that it had been a bumpy ride. 

“ I know that I have sometimes stepped on toes but I never set out to be personal in any way. I have been at the service of the country and if anybody felt personally offended, I take this occasion to apologise. But I only set out to do the best for this country,”  Mpuuga said.  

Mpuuga for obvious reasons couldn’t go into the details but two and half years had seen him fall out of the NUP establishment, with many accusing him of being soft on the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and being cosy with Ms Annet Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, whom they say is their sworn enemy.
 
“We are tired of people who are only good at speaking English. We want people of action,” said Paulson Semakula Luttamaguzi, the Nakaseke South MP, in a veiled dig at Mpuuga oratory skills. 

When it became apparent  that  Mpuuga would not serve the rest of the term after losing favour with Kyagulanyi,  several MPS had positioned themselves to succeed him, with sources saying some MPs started plotting to replace him in 2021  just after he had been appointed.      
       
Camps
Though they had been in the Democratic Party ( DP) for years and had been seen as confidants’ sources say Muhammad Muwanga-Kivumbi, the   Butambala County MP, had positioned himself to replace Mpuuga.  
 
In 2021 Muwanga- Kivumbi was appointed shadow minister of Finance after he rejected being the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) saying he was interested in much bigger things later in the term. 

To win the race to replace Mpuuga it is said Muwanga- Kivumbi started reporting the goings-on at Parliament to NUP headquarters, now based in Makerere Kavule in Kampala.  

With his eyes fixed firmly on replacing Mpuuga it is said that it was Kivumbi who told Kyagulanyi allegations of MPs being bribed with Shs100 million each to pass a supplementary budget late last year. 

“ It is challenging that out of the Shs3.5 trillion supplementary budget, Shs418b is going to Museveni’s house. However, on top of the Shs3.5 million, there was an addendum of Shs55b, and out of this addendum each MP is going to receive a bribe of Shs100m to pass the supplementary budget,” Kyagulnayi said, triggering denials from the MPs including Mpuuga.    

Muwanga-Kivumbi had backers who included his chief campaigner  Gorreth Namugga ( Mawogola South).  Sources that spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely, said Ssenyonyi’s backers included Frank Kabuye,  (Kassanda County South MP), Francis Zaake,   Muwada Nkunyingyi ( Kyadondo East) and   Derrick Nyeko ( Makindye East). Sources say others campaigned for themselves to replace Mpuuga. These reportedly included Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, who has been in Parliament since 2009 and John Baptist Nambeshe, the  Manjiya County,  who crossed over  from NRM to join NUP before the 2021 general  elections   

Mpuuga wanted Bobi’s seat?
It is feared that on various occasions, Kyagulanyi who is sometimes called principal, was constantly fed with intelligence with the majority of those informers being legislators. 

These are largely believed to have told him that Mr Mpuuga was warming up for his seat.

Chief among the reasons given were the numerous oversight tours in various parts of the country in June last year. It is alleged that the depth of rumour also morphed into a situation where some lawmakers were said to have received calls from NUP party headquarters to shun Mpuuga’s tours.

Observers claim that his tours saw Mpuuga mostly accompanied by a few of his cabinet MPs throughout the tour.

The others largely joined the tours in situations where Mpuuga visited their respective constituencies. 

The places he visited included Mityana District where  Zaake made a show but  Bagala, accompanied him.  Mpuuga, who is also  NUP’s  deputy  president in-charge of the Buganda region, also toured the central districts of Mpigi,  Nakaseke, and Butambala, among others,  on grounds that he was monitoring service delivery. 

All these tours, sources say,  were construed as warm-up processes used as campaigns by Mpuuga to undermine and unseat Kyagulanyi ahead of the 2026 general elections.

Mpuuga events shunned by NUP members, leadership

When Mpuuga organised and called the media to a final briefing at the Parliament, the majority of his shadow cabinet was not present, save for a few who kept trickling in many minutes later after the address had begun. 

One of the journalists at a local radio station, Mr Dick Nvule, asked Mpuuga why the majority of his members were not present and none of the top leaders at the party secretariat had come to the event. 

In response,  Mpuuga revealed that he had only been notified by the Chief Opposition Whip  Nambeshe that he would not make it. Besides, many of the shadow cabinet members including Nyeko (Security and Presidency), and Kabuye (Youth and Children Affairs) largely dodged cabinet sittings that were always convened on Tuesday morning in the LoP’s boardroom on level five of the North wing of the parliamentary building. 

It is not clear how Ssenyonyi is going to resolve these long-standing grievances but the FDC experience has shown that such never go away and can easily lead to the sacrilege of a party.