Museveni meets new legislators

President Museveni is reportedly holding meetings with newly-elected Members of Parliament (MPs) to understand and document region-specific issues.
The meetings, which officials described as “private”, are being held on the sidelines of the ongoing retreat at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi for first-time MPs elected on the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket.

President Museveni, who is the national NRM chairperson, also invited lawmakers elected as Independents after losing in the NRM primaries last year.
The meetings started at around 7.30pm last Saturday with the team from Central region, where Mr Museveni lost to National Unity Platform led by Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine.

There are 243 MPs in attendance, according to an official of the NRM Secretariat, who preferred anonymity.
Prior to the President’s address last week, the new MPs through the NRM Secretary-General, Ms Justine Kasule Lumumba, requested to have a one-on-one meeting with him.
“These people [MPs] are requesting you as [the] national chairman [of NRM because] some of them have never got the opportunity to stand near you and see you as the father of the nation. They are requesting for meetings [with you]. If they can’t be accommodated within the zones, let it then be done at least at a regional level,” Ms Lumumba told Mr Museveni.

Some of the legislators contacted on this matter revealed that they had requested to meet the President in person to ensure their demands reach him.
“We requested to meet him privately because no one would best explain our concerns to him,” Ms Hellen Auma Wandera, the Woman MP-elect of Busia District, said.