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Masaka NUP youth league expels four members over divided loyalty
NUP Masaka youth league during a press conference at Hotel Lavanah in Masaka city on April 7,2022. Photo/ Wilson Kutamba
What you need to know:
- Led by Mr Steven Ngobya, the NUP youth league spokesperson in Greater Masaka, they say some members of NUP who have since crossed to NRM were moles in their the party.
Youth leaders under National Unity Platform (NUP) Masaka youth league have dismissed four party members accusing them of double standards and hobnobbing with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Led by Mr Steven Ngobya, the NUP youth league spokesperson in Greater Masaka, they say some members of NUP who have since crossed to NRM were moles in their the party.
“We have expelled Mr Robert Kambugo who was appointed Lwengo deputy resident district commissioner, Ronald Kasekende, Muhammad Iga, and Ms Alice Nannungi, a councilor in Nyendo /Mukungwe Municipality,” he said
The press statement released by the NUP youth league which this publication has seen states that NRM party has taken advantage of poor, greedy youth to buy their conscience and portray them in the public as defectors.
“We wish to inform the general public that the recent defection among youth leaders in Masaka City is driven by immediate personal and political games as a reflection of political impropriety and opportunism among the defectors,’ the statement dated April 5 reads in part.
The statement adds that some defectors were sponsored by NUP in the 2021 general elections, but it’s unfortunate that they are defecting to NRM after they were promised money and political positions.
Mr Muhammad Male, the NUP youth chairperson in Masaka City noted that they have equally canceled membership cards of expelled party members and wrote to NUP secretary-general for further guidance.
However, when contacted, Mr Kambugu who has been NUP spokesperson for Greater Masaka, scoffed at his colleagues, saying they are fighting a lost political battle.
“I want to inform the general public that 80 percent of NUP youth league members met Ms Milly Babalanda, the Minister for the presidency at Kyambogo University and that’s how some us were appointed RDCs, but those who were left out are envious of our achievements,” he said
On her part, Ms Nannungi wondered how what she described as nonparty leaders could dismiss her from a party she has diligently served in the last two years.
“I know leaders of NUP in Masaka City, those who claim to have expelled us are mere party members who helped us in mobilization and hanging posters during campaigns,” she said.
Mr Kasekende said members of the party youth league are being used by some politicians within NUP to tarnish his name because of his future political ambitions in Masaka City.
Masaka, was traditionally a Democratic Party stronghold given the fact that one of its founders Ben Kiwanuka is a son of the soil. However, due to unending internal bickering in DP, the party has since lost its political base in the area and majority of its members are currently associating with the newly formed NUP headed by former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
