35 NUP legislators back party’s decision against Mpuuga

A total of 35 National Unity Platform (NUP) legislators who attended the Tuesday meeting with the party president, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi voted in favour of the party’s resolution to recall their Nyendo-Mukungwe counterpart, Mr Mathias Mpuuga from the Parliamentary Commissioner’s position over abuse of office.

After a closed door meeting which lasted for over three hours, the party Secretary General, Mr David Lewis Rubongoya told this publication that among others, Mr Kyagulanyi briefed legislators against engaging in acts of corruption and in response, the a legislators in attendance applauded the top party leadership for the disciplinary against the former Leader of Opposition in Parliament.

“All our [NUP] Members of Parliament are 100 percent in support of the party’s firm stand against acts of corruption. They have all agreed that it was wrong [for Mr Mpuuga] to share taxpayers’ money in an illegal manner,” Mr Rubongoya said.

“It is good that as NUP we decided to take action against corruption, because if we didn’t do so, people would start to question the difference between our party and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM). Actually our MPs have today pledged to take a lead in the fight against corruption,” he added.

This publication has learnt that the meeting was held under strict secrecy rules and all members present were ordered to leave their phones behind or put them in a special box at the tent entrance at the party headquarters in Makerere Kavule, Kampala.
Sources who attended the meeting and spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity revealed that a number of legislators who included, the embattled Nyendo Mukungwe MP, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, Busiro East MP Medard Sseggona, Butambala MP Muwanga Kivumbi and Geoffrey Lutaaya  of Kakuuto County registered their apologies for not showing up for the meeting. However, according to Mr Rubongoya, a total of 17 legislators sent their apologies in advance for not attending the meeting.

Mr Rubongoya added that the party will be taking action on at least five legislators who shunned the meeting without apology. According to sources who attended the meeting, the members who are absent without apology include Bukoto South’s Twaha Kagabo and Jimmy Lwanga of Njeru Municipality, who have since sided with President Museveni’s son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s pressure group Patriotic League Movement (PLU). Others who missed without apology are Micheal Kakembo of Entebbe Municipality and Abed Bwanika of Kimanya Kabonara who has of recent openly criticized the party of character assassinating Mr Mpuuga.

However, at least two legislators who attended the meeting but spoke to this publication after being granted the condition of anonymity disagreed with the party position, saying the top leadership should have handled the allegations against Mr Mpuuga in a more amicable and less humiliating way.
Up to now, Mr Mpuuga has not responded to the party’s Friday resolution or recalling him from the parliamentary commission on allegations that he stealthily allocated himself Shs500 million out of Shs1.7 billion which was shared by four commissioners as ‘service award’ during his tenure as the Leader of Opposition.

In his earlier response, Mpuuga said he deserved to be awarded for the two years he had been LoP and vowed not to resign, saying that the move to force him to step down was a funded campaign aimed at character assassinating him. It is important to note that the party resolution is not enough to effect Mr Mpuuga’s impeachment unless he takes a personal decision to step down or   through following the Parliamentary rules of procedures where he must be voted out by more than half of the voting Members of Parliament.