Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mathias Mpuuga (centre) arrives for his thanksgiving ceremony at Kitovu Sports Arena in Masaka City on June 21. PHOTO/ANTONIO KALYANGO.
When Mathias Mpuuga announced a thanksgiving ceremony, his party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), quickly distanced itself from the function and told its members to stay away for good measure. The party drew a line in the sand, making it clear that any party member who attended would be seen as a rebel.
However, this didn’t stop NUP lawmakers, including Mr Medard Lubega Sseggona (Busiro East), Ms Joyce Bagala (Mityana District Woman), Dr Abed Bwanika (Kimaanya-Kabonera), Ms Juliet Kakande (Masaka City Woman), Mr Michael Kakembo (Entebbe Municipality), and Dr Twaha Kagabo (Bukoto South) from attending prayers that were punctuated with political undertones.
Whilst it is a given that the differences between the likes of Dr Bwanika and Dr Kagabo and the NUP top brass are irreconcilable, Ms Bagala, Mr Kakembo and Mr Sseggona’s attendance of the function further complicates matters in Uganda’s leading Opposition party.
Ms Bagala, who was a publicist of the function, has grown much bolder about her support for Mr Mpuuga.
“I call all NUP members to attend this function because these are just prayers and there is nothing wrong with having prayers,” Ms Bagala said before the event took centre stage amid warnings of reprisals from NUP.
Before the Nyendo Mukungwe MP’s event, NUP, through the Opposition chief whip John Baptist Nambeshe, had attempted to clip the wings of dissidents —Dr Bwanika and Ms Bagala—by dropping them as chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Government Assurance Committee, respectively.
However, the efforts, which were led by Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), were foiled by the sheer numbers of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, which is strategically looking to cause more confusion within NUP.
NRM’s strategy seems to be working, with Ms Bagala labelling the NUP changes “political” and tailored at purging the party of any semblance of support for Mpuuga.
“This is political but we remain committed to the party and nothing is going to change,” Ms Bagala, who joined NUP from the Democratic Party (DP) in 2020 before the 2021 General Election, said.
Spanner in the works
If the NUP leadership had been coy about its intentions, Mr Francis Zzaake, the Mityana Municipality lawmaker, came out to openly ask Ms Bagala to cross to the NRM.
“We wanted to get rid of Joyce Bagala and Abed Bwanika for being rebellious. They have defied our president [Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine]. They are dead, we no longer need them in our political party. They should go to the NRM. It is the NRM that’s protecting them. Now it’s the NRM that’s thinking for the Opposition,” Mr Zaake said.
It is not the first time the NRM has used the rules of Parliament to foil NUP’s attempts to get rid of people thought not to tow the party’s line. Speaker Anita Among previously brushed aside attempts to get rid of Mr Mpuuga as commissioner, reminding the party of how the law guides.
“The aforementioned letter fails to meet the requirements of Rule 110 of the Rules of Procedure and is thus incurably defective. Granting your request would amount to restraining the authority vested in the House, as clearly stated in Section 5 of the Administration of Parliament Act,” Ms Among said while dismissing NUP’s request in March.
Besides, Ms Bagala, another person of interest to the NUP leadership is Mr Sseggona. Before the event, Mr Sseggona, just like Ms Bagala and Dr Bwanika, was among the NUP lawmakers who defied instructions from the party’s top brass to pen signatures on a censure motion championed by NRM’s Theodore Ssekikubo. The motion is intended to call Mr Mpuuga and three other backbench parliamentary commissioners to order after collectively receiving Shs1.7b as a “service award.”
“I’m a real person. The reason why I asked you to vote for me at the expense of my opponents is because I know how to read. I’m not going to sign the censure motion because I know that money was passed by Parliament. Those who have signed the motion are showing that they don’t know how to read,” Mr Sseggona told his constituents, who have put him under pressure to make his position clear.
Thick skin
If that wasn’t enough, Mr Sseggona, who at the end of 2023 was dropped as chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and replaced with Butambala MP Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, stung the NUP leadership at Mr Mpuuga’s function. He dismissed fears that politicians keen on vying for elective positions would be denied the NUP party flag in the 2026 General Election if found to have attended the Mpuuga ceremony.
“As an MP and a leader from NUP, I hereby tell you to ignore rumours by those who falsely accuse our party, claiming it stopped people from coming [for this function], that whoever comes would not be given a party card to [contest in next election]. I wasn’t told of such a thing. There must be life beyond ticketing,” he told a keenly attentive audience at the Kitovu Sports Arena, before insisting that attending the thanksgiving ceremony was necessary since Mr Mpuuga showed a thick skin during the tough times.
Mr Sseggona lavished Mr Mpuuga with praise for “gracefully transitioning from the LoP role to that of a parliamentary backbench commissioner.”
“We are here to join in his thanksgiving because we have a reason. Our reason is understandable. When God elevates you and makes you a distinguished and influential person in such a [turbulent] period and you ably sail and lead others. A period filled with abductions, robbery…and you still rose with honour,” Sseggona said.
Presidential material?
Although Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga didn’t attend the event and sent a representative, Mr Mpuuga’s function was carefully thought out. He tried to build a coalition of figures within the Opposition, NRM, Buganda Kingdom, and the Catholic Church. It didn’t come as a surprise that Mr Mpuuga claimed now he has the stature of being president of Uganda, which is a confrontation with Kyagulanyi’s ambitions.
“Many people are eager to hear my proclamation today. Some think I want to become NUP president, others think I’m forming a new political party, or planning to contest for presidency in 2026,” Mpuuga said.
“I have the capacity to serve in all capacities, but I will spend most of my time mobilising all Ugandans who need change and nurturing young people.”
NRM’s Esther Afoyochan, who is one of the backbench commissioners who stand accused of receiving the impugned “service award”, also used the function to speak publicly for the first time since the scandal broke out courtesy of an online campaign facilitated by Agora Discourse. For Ms Afoyochan, Mr Mpuuga is the paragon of openness.
“Mpuuga simply says something as it is. So, when he tells you that he didn’t steal, then he didn’t. That is what causes us issues because we despise our elders,” she said.
Earlier, Ms Prossy Akampurira Mbabazi, another commissioner accused of pocketing the “service ward”, expressed displeasure that Mr Mpuuga’s own were allegedly stifling his growth.
“Let me thank you for the good leadership of Mathias Mpuuga. Someone asked me when I was in my constituency [that] what is wrong with Baganda…, ‘they keep fighting their own.’”
Another commissioner accused of getting a “service award”, Mr Solomon Silwany, claimed that he was surprised that Ugandans, like those in Masaka, were scolding Mpuuga for bagging only Shs500m yet other counterparts like former Speakers of Parliament bagged undisclosed billions as appreciation for their roles played during their tenure.
“They have been saying Mpuuga stole...why do you people in Masaka think it is bad that Mpuuga is given Shs500m as a service award while others are getting it in the form of billions? Who bewitched you? What is wrong with you people of Masaka?” Mr Silwany asked.
No love lost
The National Unity Platform (NUP) party initially expected Mr Mpuuga to quit the party and all interested parties would move on. This, however, has not happened.
NUP is in fact already head-hunting candidates strong enough to replace Mr Mpuuga, Dr Bwanika, Ms Bagala, Mr Sseggona, and inter-alia, for the coming 2026 parliamentary elections. For Dr Bwanika’s position, Mr Jude Mbabaali, who recently crossed over from DP, has positioned himself to get the NUP ticket. The picture is not, however, clear.
“I need to study the party well and see how the primaries will be. You can’t be sure yet,” Mr Mbabaali cautiously said.
Ms Bagala has been disparaged by NUP supporters online and it is said NUP is on the lookout for people who will replace her in 2026. Mr Zaake, who prides in helping Ms Bagala defeat NRM’s Judith Nabakooba in 2021, is heading the efforts to replace the former journalist, who insists that she is not fazed.
“From the organising committee of Hon Mathias Mpuuga’s thanksgiving, we would like to thank each and everyone who turned up. May God bless and reward you. For those who eagerly waited for a new party, well…” Bagala said rather teasingly two Fridays ago.
More cliffhanger endings await from the looks of it.
