Entebbe Municipality MP Michael Kakembo
Entebbe municipality National Unity Platform (NUP) leaders have distanced themselves from statements made by their area Member of Parliament Michael Kakembo on party representation in public affairs before accusing him of incompetence.
The leaders contend that Mr Kakembo’s alleged disparaging comments made against the top party leadership, especially its President, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi are his as an individual and not the party leadership in the municipality.
“We invited our area MP to give him our position as leaders in representation and sent in our views but he ignored us. We requested him not to go to Gulu City [for the parliamentary regional sittings] but he snubbed and went. That was not a party position as had been briefed by the top leadership. He attended the regional sittings which are not relevant to the people of Entebbe,” Entebbe deputy mayor Charles Kabwama who is also part of the party’s mobilisation team in the municipality.
During the House sitting at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu city, the Speaker Anita Among allowed Mityana South MP, Mr Richard Lumu, a member of the Democratic Party (DP) to introduce a Private Member’s Bill titled The Administration of Parliament Amendment Bill 2024. According to the Mityana South lawmaker, the Bill intends to revise the LoP selection.
Mr Kakembo who seconded Mr Lumu’s motion said the issue had exposed the lack of leadership within NUP.
“All leaders, including my president, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, have failed to learn. And when he refuses to learn, he shames our political party. The level at which my president is at, I’m just a call away. I’m his son for that matter. We have been warning him that our president [Kyagulanyi] should be the last to speak because you might embarrass yourself. But he never listens,” Mr Kakembo, who has been singled out as an ally of Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mr Mathias Mpuugas said during a live TV show recently.
NUP faulted Mr Kakembo who referred to how during the last term the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) managed to fight a similar Bill that was fronted by Busiro East lawmaker Medard Lubega Sseggona and his Ndorwa East counterpart, Wilfred Nuwagaba. Mr Kakembo said without raising much dust, FDC was able to kill the Bill.
According to Mr Arafat Ssekawoya, the chairperson NUP leaders’ caucus in Entebbe, Mr Kakembo has never presented on the floor of Parliament anything representing his constituents.
“He is silent about the havoc wreaked by Fisheries Protect Unit (FPU) personnel and poor infrastructure in Entebbe, among others. The first time he presented something on the floor was in Gulu. We thought he would say something developmental, only for him to second Lumu’s anti-opposition motion. We suspect he was paid to take that direction which as a party, we do not support,” he said.
Another member of the party’s mobilstion team in Wakiso District, Ms Joyce Nabata accused Mr Kakembo of siding with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) to demobilize opposition.
“His position does not represent us as people in Entebbe. He does not even attend our meetings as leaders. He is being elusive and self-centered. As party leaders in Entebbe, we reject him because his views and opinions do not represent us. We are collecting signatures to recall him from Parliament,” Ms Nabata said.
However, Mr Kakembo has described the move an act of fear allegedly fueled by the party’s top leadership to frustrate Mr Lumu’s motion.
