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Kololo not available for your anniversary – govt tells NUP
National Unity Platform (NUP) party leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, addresses supporters in Mayuge District on September 4, 2023.
What you need to know:
- "You are therefore requested to seek an alternative venue," government has told NUP.
Uganda’s opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) has been told to “seek an alternative venue” for its July 22 fourth year anniversary, an event the party asked Ugandan authorities to celebrate at the Kololo Independence Grounds.
On July 9, top leadership of the Robert Kyagulanyi led political party wrote to the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Defence requesting to hold its commemorative event at Kololo- “given its historical significance and the number of people expected.”
“Due to the ongoing infrastructural development at the Kololo ceremonial grounds, we regret to inform you that the grounds will not be available for your event,” the ministry responded in a brief July 16 letter signed off by Sam Kallu on behalf of the PS.
Bobi Wine Thursday afternoon led dissidents in voicing frustration over the outcome of his party’s request for the venue.
He said: “These public grounds are only available for use by everyone who worships Gen. Museveni and his regime!”
“These same grounds have been hosting different events, including recently when they had an event to apparently recognize 40 years of NRM- in actual sense 40 years of plunder and misrule. Different individuals and other organizations continue to hold concerts and other events there,” Bobi Wine added.
Since its debut as a political party in 2020, NUP has had a rocky relationship with state authorities, sometimes leading to death or large-scale arrests of opposition figures loyal to the organization.
“Even as we traverse Western Uganda for our #NUPCountryWideTour, all venue owners in towns have been intimidated not to host us. Even those we had booked in Ntungamo and Isingiro were intimidated, and forced to cancel their bookings with us,” Bobi Wine claimed in a post on X.
“Regime operatives have all been directed to give us venues in villages that are sparsely populated. It still baffles them that many people are still able to travel these distances to come and listen to us,” he remarked.
NUP originally planned to stage the event between 9am-6pm in Uganda’s capital, which is an opposition stronghold.
With a majority of his 3,475,298 votes (34.83%) from the central region, Bobi Wine emerged closest challenger to President Museveni following a deadly election in 2021 that claimed over 50 lives and left dozens of opposition figures detained across the country, according to poll observers.
Kololo Grounds, which were given a new look in 2012, have a more than 5000-seater pavilion but with an open ground which can host an estimated more than 15, 000 people.
