Bobi says no to verbal  exchanges with Mpuuga 

The National Unity Platform (NUP) party president has said he won’t stoop to engage in verbal exchanges with his suspended deputy for Central Region Mathias Mpuuga. 
 Mr Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, better known by his stage name of Bobi Wine, said he would stick to the streamlined party processes in their current political fights. 

“I cannot reduce my responsibility to exchanging verbal talks with my former Deputy,” he told this publication shortly after attending Easter Sunday Mass at Rubaga Cathedral in Kampala yesterday.
 
Bobi Wine’s comments come a few days after Mr Mpuuga, the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP, issued a hard-nosed response to his suspension by Bobi over allegations that he engaged in corruption, including taking part in sharing a portion of the controversial Shs1.7b service award by the Parliamentary Commission. 

But Mr Mpuuga, an embattled Parliamentary Commissioner, who NUP says they have withdrawn from the job, and also suspended as Deputy President for Central Region, had in a widely circulated statement responded: “I appreciate and understand that you are under siege. I don’t know how to help you and support you.” 

The response, also posted on his official X-Platform, formerly Twitter on Friday, added: “In view of the contents of the impugned document [suspension letter] 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 …” 

Since the documents leaked showing how Mpuuga as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and three ruling National Resistance Commissioners shared the service award in 2022, where he received Shs500m, the party has been engaged in harsh exchanges with him. 

The storm intensified when the party leadership asked Mr Mpuuga to take back the “dirty money,” apologise to the country as they said he had done before the NUP council of elders as well resign his post as Parliamentary Commissioner that he has held since December when he was dropped as the Leader of Opposition in Parliament. 

The tensions escalated when NUP wrote to the Speaker recalling Mpuuga as their Commissioner. But House Speaker Anita Among has since rubbished the mandate, saying NUP has only the powers of nominating a Commissioner but the powers to remove remains the preserve of the House. 

She challenged NUP to follow Parliament’s Rules of Procedure 110 and undergo three steps, namely initiate a motion supported by a third of the House (177 MPs out of 529), write and convince Clerk to Parliament that Mr Mpuuga broke the law, and convince a half of the House (265 out of 529 MPs) to vote in favour of their demand. 
But Mr Mpuuga has also since laughed off the move by his party’s top hierarchy. 

“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 judgment at the highest echelons of the party,” he wrote. 

In response, Bobi Wine yesterday waved off the claims of siege by his deputy and simply said: “I am not commenting on that issue. I will not exchange with my former deputy.” 
However, Mr Mpuuga yesterday seemed to have walked back from his hardline and sounded more restrained. While attending Easter Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Cathedral in Masaka City, Mr Mpuuga, who was allowed to salute the congregants, said the misunderstandings between him and the NUP top leadership are resolvable but have been exaggerated on social media. 

“We have the capacity to handle this as leaders. Whenever we find hardships, we shall revert to you (Bishop) for guidance. However, as we rise from different backgrounds such circumstances are inevitable,” he said. 
Mpuuga also asked the public not to shun politics because of the current infighting in NUP because “it’s a field that needs the finest people of the society. 

Political prisoners 
Bobi Wine, who also commented on the politics of his jailed supporters, said they would not conduct any negotiations with President Museveni to release his enthusiasts whom he said are being held because of their political affiliations. 
“We all want freedom for our supporters and we continue to demand their unconditional release. There is no need for us to negotiate with Mr Museveni to release our people whom he arrested simply because they don’t support him,” he said. 

“I will not kneel for Museveni to release our people, and talk about negotiating. What are we negotiating about? You arrest me and then ask me to negotiate my freedom, No! What we are demanding is basic freedom for our people,” Bobi said.
Last week, during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed ministers, a NUP councilor from Masaka, one Ali Kateregga, requested Mr Museveni to release the NUP supporters who were arrested. He said politicians misled the supporters for personal interests. 

But Bobi Wine rebuffed the claims, saying: “Those asking us to negotiate are working for Museveni [because] we have been advocating their release officially. And as I said, we are demanding for the rights of our supporters. Everyone has a right to associate with the political party of their choice. And in terms of negotiations, you will still ask what Museveni wants. You arrest me for not supporting you and then want us to negotiate?”